Precious

I must admit, I really didn’t know what to make of Precious before I sat down to watch it yesterday evening. It could have gone either way – it could have been a challenging and rewarding view or it could have been sentimental tripe. It was the former – very much so.

Detailing the grim life of an illiterate black teenager in New York in the 1980’s, it pulls no punches in showing just how unpleasant life can be. Precious is pregnant for the second time – her first baby, called Mongo (as a brutally descriptive term for the baby’s Down’s Syndrome) lives with the grandmother, except when the social worker comes around. The father of Precious’ children is her father – she was raped by her father from a young age. Her mother despises Precious for stealing her lover from her, and is horrifically abusive towards her daughter as a result.

In fact, the mother is one of the most memorable screen monsters I have seen in a long time. She lives off welfare, sitting in her chair, eating, occasionally retiring to bed to masturbate. She throws bottles at her daughter’s head, then throws water in her face to revive her. She despises her disabled granddaughter, and treats her mother with barely disguised disgust. She has no issue with dropping a baby to the floor, and indeed attempts to hurl a television set onto the heads of her daughter and her newly born grandson. She is a simmering bag of lard and barely contained hatred. When her lifetime of resentment and cruelty is exposed by a social worker, she does what all bullies do – she retreats into self-pity and desperate begging. As a character, she is simultaneously contemptible and terrifying.

The presentation of welfare in this film is also interesting. It is made clear that the family is dependent on welfare – indeed, the mother insists that Precious gets herself down to the welfare office to maximise their government funding of their empty lives. The mother makes it clear that she sees no point in education. All Precious needs to do is sign on, and the rest of her life is taken care of. Interestingly, when Precious finally does flee from her mother, she is saved by the charity of her teacher, who takes Precious and her baby into her home. Welfare doesn’t save Precious, the kindness of another person does. The film presents a rebuke to all those who venerate welfare mindlessly, and who believe it is always better than private charity.

Which is the triumph of Precious. It is difficult viewing, and at times truly tragic. Yet is it challenging and through-provoking. And given the amount of bland, candy-floss film-making that passes for entertainment today, that is something to be celebrated.