Precious

The movie I rented last night was "Precious." You know the story: Obese, illiterate teen, repeatedly raped by her father, abused by her mother. Kids are products of their environments and their environments offer no hope

I can handle heavy movies but I was disappointed by this one. The movie claimed to be an unrelenting portrait of the lives of the impoverished and abused, however, I found many aspects of her story unrealistic. Pregnant with her second child by her father, the principal puts her into an alternative school where she receives a stipend; camaraderie in her small class of about eight students who don't judge her; and the undivided attention of a teacher who takes interest in her. Is this reality for the thousands of inner city students who need it? Unfortunately not.

Moreover, Precious, the girl, shows no initiative and has no personality. Granted she's had it beaten out of her, but often the students who rise above their circumstances are those who can see past them and strive for something greater. Precious never shows any initiative and when she is seen stealing in the movie, it is hard to see her as any better than her mother who has been stealing from the welfare system for years.

In the end Precious is given some devastating news that reinforces a truth for girls like her: there is no redemption and no light at the end of the tunnel and none of it was her fault. She only wins by knowing that she has learned to read and is making an attempt to edumacate eh, I mean educate herself. But here again Precious, the movie, fell short. The teachers and social workers who helped her were fair skinned caricatures. "Come on Precious. You can do it. What is this word?" Says her hip lesbian teacher in a two minute scene that magically transforms her reading skills from a second to seventh grade level. The rest of the classroom scenes consisted of students swearing and reading poorly written journal entries about their lives. Any teacher knows that this is not the way to teach students to read.

My rating: 2 Stars.