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If you’re avoiding seeing ‘Precious‘ because the movie seems too heavy or depressing, do yourself a favor and go anyway.  Yes, it’s heavy.  We saw it on Friday at Cinemapolis with an audience discussion after the film.   And by the time the movie was over, Rachel had a splitting headache and the whole audience needed a collective deep breath.  But as disturbing as the story is, it forced me to think about a side of our communities often overlooked as someone else’s problem.  This movie strips that away.  It forces you to look, and forces you to feel the emotion of domestic abuse.  Our discussion after the film featured a school psychologist, a community organizer and a member of our local advocacy center for domestic violence.  Nobody left the theater after the film.  20 people stood up and spoke about what this film meant to them.   How often does a movie bring out that kind of reaction?

The film itself was incredibly well done.  The acting across the board was outstanding.  Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Mo’Nique (The Mother) deserve academy awards.  Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carrey suprised me.  My only complaint was with the casting of Paula Patton for the teacher.  She’s beautiful, she’s a good actress, and she did a fine job with the role.  But she didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the movie.  She looked like she was ready for a modeling shoot in every scene.  And then one of our audience members noted that in the book ‘Push’ which the movie is based on, the teacher is heavy with much darker skin and dreadlocks.  In the book, Precious relates to this teacher in large part because of her looks.  I wonder why the producer took the liberty to change the look of this central character so much.  Perhaps because Precious herself wanted that type of body and light skin?  Regardless, it came across as a mistake in an otherwise near-flawless movie.  Oh, and the movie ends on a fairly positive note.  So don’t worry about walking out and needing counseling. Just go see it.  Two heavy thumbs up.