Sunday, November 29, 2009

Something Precious

Precious was precious to someone once; somehow she got her name. But for most of this film, which is the story of her life, she is precious to no one, until she becomes precious to herself, which is late in the game. Surprisingly, this movie has the structure of a classical bildungsoman, or education novel, like David Copperfield, for example. In fact, education itself is a character in this story, the rungs of a ladder.

This film is marked by incredible performances by non-actors, especially Mo’nique, for whom a best-supporting nomination has to be in the offing.

As to the subject matter of this film, while we struggle to “fix” other countries, admirable as that may be, we seem to have forgotten our own, and by that, I mean something different than simply pumping money into a debilitating welfare system, certainly indicted by this movie.

There is an uplifting message here if you can endure your way to it.