Lee Daniels
Precious

Precious Claireece Jones is sixteen years old, lives in Harlem and is apparently just like any other girl, if it weren't for her hefty build, her dark complexion, and the precarious school and family situation. It's 1987.

The director chooses to describe a disastrous teenage life.

Although the girl is in the eighth grade, Precious can neither read nor write; the only subject in which she excels is mathematics, a passion fueled by the professional availability of her teacher. The situation at home is no better—she has to deal with a violent, enslaving, depressed, and jealous mother; the jealousy stems from the belief that her husband, who disappeared a few years ago, preferred the young daughter (raped twice and pregnant just as many times) to the now quite resistible mother. But Precious does not give up; despite the difficult path of her life, she manages to break through darkness and desolation due to her excellent math skills, and is invited to a special school with the hope that all that has happened was just a bad dream...

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the most awaited and awarded film of the year, a dramatic and sentimental work based on the novel of the same name by Sapphire. Winner of more than 60 international awards (at least that's what the poster says), Lee Daniels' film has proven to be the right movie at the right time. It's no coincidence that the film has been so successful; it's a good film, with excellent acting by the young and debuting Gabourey Sidibe, and a perfect setting: a God-forsaken Harlem despite being just four kilometers from Manhattan. But it is also true that the director, deciding to make such a film given the particular historical-political period of the nation, and the social context in which (unfortunately) a country like America still finds itself today, makes this small gem a family film accessible to everyone. Starting with the protagonist: a young obese black girl denigrated for her body in a society as classist and racist as the one she lives in, the hope that everything can change and that a savior of the nation (Obama?) might arrive, a daughter raped by her father at the tender age of 13.

What sets this film apart from other denunciation works made previously?

Once again, my compliments for the density and cruelty (particularly the scene of the fight with the mother) but are we sure that the numerous awards were given for the value of the film and not for what it hypocritically represents?