I had the pleasure of getting to watch this movie at the Writers Guild Theatre with a Q&A after with Gabby Sidibe and Paula Patton present. Maria Carey couldn't make the Q&A because she got taken by Jay Leno that same day. I do agree that it is a very powerful adaptation of the life of an overweight low self-esteem girl who's family abused her throughout her life and father who sexually raped her, caused her to have a child who is born a mongoloid and has a second child from another rape from her father while her mother is looking the other way in another room. Although she seems to be well fed (chubby), she seems to be constantly hungry, poor, many times angry because she is being teased by other people surrounding her and when she gets home, she gets things thrown by her own mother and gets verbally abused. She even goes and steals a bucket of chicken from a fast food restaurant. Precious does go to her "happy place" fantasy world when her situation gets bad and maybe a way to protect her mental self. Powerful as it may seem as the crowd cries over my shoulder, I get this cold feeling somehow. Even though this is the kind of situation that happens with a very poor unwanted illiterate girl, I get many different mixed feeling about this movie. It's got some funny moments throughout the film, but at the same time coming out at the time when people are at their weak points in life, this may not give a positive role play. In fact, I believe that it is somewhat shockingly extreme that there are actually families that live their lives this way in the Ghetto. It's best to always look forward to positives things in life no matter how dim and desolate it may be for a person. This character finally gets out of her wretched family and turns to a teacher and counselor to try to turn her life around. Precious's mother would be an extreme person who only cares about getting welfare checks more than the welfare of her own daughter and shockingly doesn't seem to care one bit about the children that were born (you will be shocked at some of the segments of what the mother does to the babies). So how could this movie be a true heart movie? I really can't say because it's torn and split many peoples hearts before becoming recovered in the end. Again, I have to admit that the realism played by an actress (Gabby) who still doesn't think she is an actress played a role that would rival some of experienced actresses who's been doing it for years. My final conclusion is that it is still a worthy movie to be seen because it will definitely transport you to a world that you wish or glad not to live this life.
Ferdy
Ferdy