I was overwhelmed by Precious.  There have been many movies about the poor kid who gets a good school teacher to mentor him or her and goes on a to wonderous future. Akeela and the Bee ran along those lines in a middle income, family friendly home.  Precious, however, has a documentary feel that is gritty, horrendous and real.  It grabs you in the opening scenes and the characters seem so real that you think they can’t be acting, that they really are that gritty, horrendous and real.

Precious is a young teen with a special needs daughter and a son on the way, both by her mother’s boyfriend who is also Precious’ father.  Her life is so bad that she lapses into fairy tale style daydreams about how life really should be.  She is sent to an alternative school where she is encouraged to learn to read and write.  She works with her teacher and a social worker played by Mariah Carey who did a magnificent job in this role.

The cinematography and the locations’ shots in what looks like Harlem, if not some other urban ghetto, reek with authenticity.  As authentic as it seems in a black urban ghetto setting, the story is universal.  At a local high school graduation two years ago it seemed that every  other girl graduate was wither pregnant or carrying her child.  Babies having babies.  Without education, there is no hope, even the slim hope Precious feels by the end of the movie.

I highly recommend Precious.  It is depressing, sad, yet also lacks a feeling of hopelessness.  There is a better life, even if it will be grim and without a McDonald’s restaurant.