Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Naturally, Oprah was jumping all over this story, given her taste for moving dramas about African-Americans, in her excitement to put her "executive producer" stamp on this project. Based on a novel called Push by Sapphire, the film adaptation, Precious, makes the tragedies of a vulnerable 16-year-old girl accessible. It shows in detail the effects of a life of abuse on a human psyche. Push was written in Ebonics from the protagonist, Claireece "Precious" Jones', point of view and is rife with spelling and grammatical errors. It's sometimes so incredibly difficult to decipher, that the heavy use of Ebonics took away from the plot. Fortunately, the film version is more conscious of the problems with the novel's baffling vernacular style and, as a result, a powerful story soars effortlessly out of the cesspit of Precious' pitiful life.

In fact, Precious, played by newcomer, Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, says relatively little in her faltering voice throughout the film, but when she does, her thoughts and emotions come pouring out, eager to escape the gloomy Harlem tenement where she lives with her heartless mother, played by Mo'Nique. On the margins and underloved, every imaginable hardship is thrown her way, even in the literal sense when Precious’ mother hurls a glass and a TV at her. Precious plods slowly through the film; seemingly going through the motions of life before her final push for change when she takes her two children and heads for a better life.

Sapphire clearly wasn’t happy with just a few measly dramatic situations. It's as though she chucked everything she could think of into the mix for good measure (just in case you weren't shocked enough). Precious is black, pregant, insecure, obese, illiterate and living on welfare in Harlem. At home, she is abused by her embittered mother and repeatedly raped by her father. Sexually abused by him from a young age, she has two of his children, one of which has Down’s syndrome. If all that weren’t enough, Precious contracts HIV from her father, who dies not long after her second child is born. Despite all her suffering, Precious emerges with a mature, respectful consideration for life born from the love she has for her two children, the support of caring individuals and her undying dreams.

Though Precious sometimes seems to be over-wrought with intense drama just to be controversial and gripping, if this film doesn’t win several Oscars there might be something wrong with the system. Gabourey and Mo’nique particularly deserve some serious accolades for their craft.