DVD Reviews

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire - DVD Review

By June L. Mar 8, 2010, 15:19 GMT

Precious Jones, an inner-city high school girl, is illiterate, overweight, and pregnant…again. Naïve and abused, Precious responds to a glimmer of hope when a door is opened by an alternative-school teacher. She is faced with the choice to follow opportunity and test her own boundaries. Prepare for shock, revelation and celebration. ...more

I have had my heart broken and restored by watching Precious. This film is so much more than just a story of overcoming odds, it is a triumph and a demonstration of what my grandmother used to say that “where there is a will, there is a way.”

Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, is not what one might expect. There are plenty of horrors that must be faced by sixteen year old Clarice Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) as she moves through her life.

In math class at the film’s opening, Precious tells the audience in a voice over that every day she expects something to happen. And even though her life is anything but good, we feel that the something she expects is going to be something extraordinary. When she is suspended from school for being pregnant, Precious does not give up.

She may not have too much assistance, but she finds a way to attend the alternative school, and for the first time in her life is treated as a person. There is so much realism in this performance, you feel that you are watching a documentary that has been enriched by the subject’s personal thoughts.

As Precious learns that she is someone, something that she has known all along, that her brutal home life has not been able to destroy, we keep hoping that she will find a home and a place for herself far away from her former existence.

I think the most telling line in the film is when she is living at the halfway house “halfway between where you have come from and where you want to be” and she wishes that her life could have begun with her existence at the house with her son, going to school and learning.

Viewers may fear the horrors of Precious’s life, and steer clear of the film. This would be a big mistake. While it is not an easy film to watch at times, the overall sense of moving from despair and tragedy to hope and life is so compelling that it should make viewers feel that time with Precious has been well spent.

Incomparable performances by all actors involved in the project give the film heart and soul, making it truly live. For those who have lived Precious’s life this should be a beacon of hope, and for those who are fortunate enough to have escaped such trials, it is a reminder to be thankful for blessings received, and respect those who have come up the hard way.

Precious DVD is presented on single disc in widescreen format with a running time of 109 minutes. There is a wealth of bonus material with the DVD, including a film commentary with director Lee Daniels.

There are several featurettes “From Push to Precious” which illustrates the work in changing a novel into a screenplay and then filming it, “A Precious Ensemble” which discusses the casting choices for the various roles, and “Oprah and Tyler: A Project of Passion” in which Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry discuss their interest and roles in getting the film made.

There is a deleted scene of the “incest survivor’s meeting” and the audition of star Gabourey Sidibe for the role of Precious. A conversation with Sapphire, author of the original novel Push and film director Lee Davis sheds additional light on the story, the script and the cast.