'Precious': Based on the Novel 'Push' by Saphire'

'Precious' (R) ****

Writer: Geoffrey Fletcher based on the novel 'Push' by Saphire
Director Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Monique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherris Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz

Once in a while a movie comes a long with such strong and compelling characters and a powerful story that knocks you on your ass! "Precious' is such a movie and what an unrelenting, powerful and finally uplifting movie it is! This is what we go to the movies for! To immerse us totally into another World, keep us there and move us in powerful ways. This is the incredible story of Precious who is a large, quiet and uncomfortable teenage girl who is emotionally and physically abused by her mother and was raped by her father who has now left. She became pregnant by the father and had a child and now is pregnant again by the same father. She is a smart girl in school but is somehow illiterate. She is also picked on by other kids at school and on the street. Her mother takes out her welfare frustrations and the father leaving out on Precious. She is mean and unrelenting in her abuse of Precious. There is a silver lining as she is steered towards a special school that can help her learn to read. She does try to escape the abuse by her mother by fantasizing about being famous and a model.

This is a fascinating story and Precious is one of the most compelling characters I have ever seen on screen. Newcomer Gabourney Sidibe gives a natural and powerful performance that will get her an Academy Award nomination and possibly a win. Her face masks a lot of pain and emotion and Sidibe is wonderful capturing this girl's pain. Monique is equally powerful as the mother and if you know who Monique is you will be amazed by her performance. She has the tough role because her character is evil and selfish and a monster but Monique has to try to gain our sympathy in a powerful final scene but can we possibly feel anything for her besides hate? There are also two more Oscar caliber performances by Paula Patton who is so good as Precious's teacher at her new school. She is one of the people that truly cares about Precious and Patton makes her a strong, beautiful and great influence on her. There is also an unrecognizable Mariah Carey who completely threw me for a loop with a subtle and nuanced performance as a welfare case worker(the girl can act!). Also Sherri Shepherd from "The View" is great and unrecognizable in a small role. All actresses are outstanding and powerful in this movie.

The director Lee Daniels who also wrote the powerful movie "Monsters Ball" has done a flawless job getting these great performances from these actresses. He is a great storyteller does a great job of capturing the emotion and the power of the story. He also handles the tricky fantasy scenes very well and they don't distract us at all. There are many brutal and ugly scenes of abuse that made the audience jump and gasp but it does not come off as exploitative. There are also many touching and beautiful scenes between Sidibe and Patton. There are also girls from Precious's class which are small roles but every character has nuance and detail. This is her new family and they also help to spring Precious out of her shell and out of her unrelentingly sad life. There is a truly powerful ending scene in a welfare office between case worker Carey, Monique and Sidibe and you will see how powerful Monique is in her performance and if she doesn't win an Oscar it will be a travesty! I cried all throughout this movie from beginning to end and not always because of the pain. This is an ultimately uplifting movie with scenes of beauty and grace and there is humor that relieves a lot of the tension. These are some of the most memorable characters and performances you will ever see on screen. This is also one of the most powerful and engrossing films of this or any other year. You will never forget Precious and her story. This is rough material but so worth seeing! "Precious" is one of my favorite movies of the decade.