Precious (2009)

Set in Harlem in the 1980s, amid the interconnected duel furors of the crack and AIDS epidemics, Precious tells the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gadboury Sidibe). Morbidly obese but with a sweet soul, Precious is buffeted by more than any one person should be able to stand. Remarkably, she not only stands, but she eventually learns to do so with her head held high.

At 16, Precious is pregnant for the second time by her own incestuous father, who seems to come around just often enough to rape his daughter. But Precious’ “delicate” condition elicits no sympathy from her mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), who is verbally, physically and sexually abusive past the point where the word cruel even applies. Mary’s daily routine involves sitting around her apartment with the shades drawn, watching daytime television, smoking cigarette after cigarette, and looking for an excuse to throw cast-iron pans at her daughter’s head. That is, until social worker visit day, when she straps on her wig to play June Cleaver to her daughter and Down Syndrome grandchild.

With even the welfare counselors fooled, Precious’ only escape is to a movie-like fantasy world, in which she is white, thin, and blond, and where her black Tom Cruise always awaits. In both her real and imagined lives, the echoes to the past centuries of oppression are loud and clear.

After her pregnancy is discovered by her principal, Precious is expelled from her public school, but her expulsion comes with an offer to attend a GED prep school for troubled girls. Against Mary’s wish for her “dummy” daughter — and welfare meal ticket — Precious finds herself in Blu Rain’s (Paula Patton) classroom. And, although she is barely able to read, she starts putting pen to paper to tell her horrific story and a few of her richer fantasies.

While the setup seems familiar (Stand and Deliver, Lean on Me), don’t be fooled. Precious is not about Ms. Rain’s ability to break through to her student. Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, and adapted for the screen by newcomer Geoffery Fletcher, it is a one-of-a-kind film that resists trite “morals of the story” and “one size fits most” happy endings. Actually, despite being set a full century later, Precious more closely resembles The Color Purple than any late-80s-set story of teen triumph. In each, the abuse is a bitter pill to swallow, but the story and performances are always truthful and emotionally connected.

Unlike The Color Purple, however, Precious is almost entirely devoid of men. One notable exception is Nurse John (a hardly recognizable Lenny Kravitz), who takes care of Precious in the hospital after she gives birth. He, along with Ms. Rain, and social worker, Mrs. Weiss (a decidedly un-diva-like Mariah Carey), become the family that she’s never known. They challenge, love, and look out for her until she learns to cope without black Tom Cruise.

Kudos to both of the scribes for refusing to slip into caricatures instead of characters — in a world of this much bona fide ugliness, it would be easy — and allowing each woman on screen all three of her dimensions. Director Lee Daniels walks a tightrope, offsetting the heavy material with much-needed moments of levity (often from Precious’ street-smart big sisters in Ms. Rain’s class) at exactly the right times. His balancing act also includes using his camera to create a fantasy world for Precious that is as glitzy as her reality is gritty.

Finally, Daniels’ unconventional casting of absolute beginners like Sidibe and non-dramatic actors pays off at every turn. Mo’Nique plays Mary with such intensity that audiences can’t help but cower and cringe, and when she breaks down, revealing the monster’s underbelly, it is with the kind of sloppy, blubbering lack of ego that more traditional leading ladies can rarely deliver.

Of course, the heart of the film is our title character. As played by Sidibe, she is equally childlike, mature, vulnerable, tough, and well, precious.