Precious: Delivers shock messsages and more

Saying the movie “split her open,” Oprah put her might behind the film after seeing a screening of it. Others have labeled it yet another stereotypical, demonizing representation of the black community. One well known movie reviewer for the New York Press calling it a work of “racist hysteria.”

No matter what you think, the movie is difficult to watch. It tells the story of Claireece (Precious) Jones, an obese, illiterate, and friendless teenager who is abused by both her parents and is pregnant for the second time with her father’s child, after birthing one who suffers from Downs Syndrome.

What’s the message?

The film confronts certain issues quite obviously:

• Child abuse: In 2005, more than 3.5 million children were reported as victims of child abuse or neglect. The staggering truth is that before today is over, four children will DIE because their little bodies cannot bear any more abuse.
• Incest: The National Center for Victims of Crime notes: “Incest does not discriminate. It happens in families that are financially privileged, as well as those of low socio-economic status. It happens to those of all racial and ethnic descent, and to those of all religious traditions.”
• Literacy: 21 million Americans can't read at all, 45 million are marginally illiterate and one-fifth of high school graduates can't read their diplomas. (The Literacy Project)

A number of issues, however, may not have been so obvious to some:

• Urban decay: The condition of our inner cities: The film is set in 1987 but little has changed in the inner city in the more than 20 years since.
• Education: In some of the worst neighborhoods, the graduation rates are barely 50%, a clear indication that the public education system is failing inner city youth. At one point in the movie, an English teacher gave Precious an A-minus in English when the girl can’t read!
• Poverty: The public-welfare system has yet to offer a real path out of poverty.
• Social services: Child protection services is not doing enough to protect children. Precious’s social worker never figures out that something awful is happening in the girl’s home.

Regardless of the controversy, “Precious” does a great job at provoking sympathy and understanding for the title character, who is undoubtedly one of the most unique heroines in movie history.

More Oscar Countdown

Check out how we've rated the other movies nominated for a 2010 Best Film Oscar:

• Avatar
• The Blind Side
• District 9
• An Education