‘Precious’: Unforgettable Story of Hope, Self-Reliance
by Carl KozlowskiSome lives slip through the cracks, people who you might pass everyday without giving a second thought. Precious is one of those people.
Vastly overweight and carrying her second child at the far-too-young age of 16, Precious is an African-American girl living in the Bronx who’s stuck four years behind her age group in the 7th grade, with a single mother who is verbally, emotionally and physically abusive towards her. Her father is only in the picture enough to come over and rape her, which led to her first child being born with Down Syndrome, and Precious utterly unaware of proper prenatal care or even a delivery date for her second.
The only thing that brings her any sense of joy is her imagination, which Precious uses to block out horrific moments of the past and present with visions of herself on red carpets and other glamorous situations. But when a school official steps in and orders her to go to an alternative school for troubled young women, a concerned teacher, social worker and eventually a male post-natal nurse discover the extent of Precious’ problems and help her take the drastic actions needed to save her life.
This may all sound like a vision from hell, but people like Precious exist all around us in modern society, where the welfare state and ingrained, multi-generational poverty and an often-negligent school system perpetuate rather than solve their problems. But in the new movie “Precious,” this starkly realistic portrayal of one fictional life points audiences in the direction of true hope by showing that it only takes a few concerned people to save a life and turn it around towards productivity and pride.
“Precious” has been a sensation since its January debut at the Sundance Film Festival under its original title of “Push,” which in turn was based on a cult-hit novel by Sapphire that’s been a sensation since its 1996 debut. The two books and their attendant films are drawing extensive comparisons to the classic novel and movie, “The Color Purple,” and not only due to their subject matter of African-American women learning to stand up for their dignity and self-worth – they also both feature what should be career-making performances from heretofore unknown or disregarded actresses.
The film stars the stunning, one-of-a-kind Gabourney Sidibe as Precious and longtime hack comic Mo’Nique as her monstrous mother with a tragic past of her own, in what are likely the odds-on favorite performances for next year’s Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscars. Yet the film also features a wonderful performance by Paula Patton as the teacher who breaks down Precious’ walls by forcing her to learn how to compose her thoughts in a notebook, and surprisingly strong yet small turns by a de-glammed Mariah Carey as Precious’ social worker and rocker Lenny Kravitz as the male nurse who is the first man ever to treat Precious with respect and friendship.
Director Lee Daniels is only making his second film here, following the barely-released and critically derided “Shadowboxer.” But his command of incredibly difficult and dark subject matter is masterful. Following the lead of classic filmmakers who understood it was more effective to leave viewers filling in their own vision of horrific details rather than hammering them with graphic imagery, he shows the bare minimum footage necessary to get the idea of Precious’ abuse across while emphasizing that hope, self-reliance and positive values are essential to overcoming any difficult life situation. And it’s those positive vibes that drew Oprah Winfrey and black filmmaking powerhouse Tyler Perry to attach their names to the film as “presenters,” in the hopes of drawing attention to this valuable enterprise.
If you can handle the depictions of abuse and frequent profanity (which declines as Precious learns to become more eloquent), “Precious” is an unforgettable experience that’s not easily shaken.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
98 Comments
What it's given me is a thing I've been looking for–a renewed ability to look at people as individuals and move out of the tendency to see only my own stereotypes.
I avoid movies like this.
Even though I make it a point to stay away from anything Oprah endorses, this story has me intrigued just enough to want to go see it.
another victim of the vast right wing conspiracy no doubt. full up, blacks, muslims, american indians, convicts, felons, etc.
sounds like an indictment of the ghettoization of humans for political gain…
Perhaps there will come a time when pure innocents such as Precious will be allowed to fulfill their Destinies.
But evil people running an evil system for their own purposes instead determine her Fate. That they will have to be reconciled by a Higher Authority is small comfort to this poor soul.
Sad.
Well I will be frank, I saw the trailer for this, and well its just more junk on film. What is so up lifting about all men are scum? Most Fathers do not rape there daughters. This movie suggests that its the norm rather then the deviant exception. I have better uses for the 10 bucks than to see this one,
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Big Hollywood, SHERLY ST. PREUVE. SHERLY ST. PREUVE said: 'Precious': Unforgettable Story of Hope, Self-Reliance: Big Hollywood (blog) Her father is only in the .. http://bit.ly/cw80P [...]
Looks like another Oprah production of another "Magic Negro". Just give them the Academy Awards now, so that this won't be shoved in my face 24/7 until they get the awards. Oh, It'll be another historic, Black Afro-American moment that the whole world can be proud of! Yuk!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jeff A. Jones and Big Tweeting, Big Tweeting. Big Tweeting said: BigHollywood: ‘Precious’: Unforgettable Story of Hope, Self-Reliance: Some l.. http://bit.ly/p6OpL #BigTweet [...]
Too many liberal names attached to this movie. No matter if it has the ringing endorsement of Big Hollywood, it isn't getting one penny from me. Waiting for an independent studio production that isn't afraid to bill itself and actually be anti-Hollywood and more middle American.
Mr. Semel,
I don't know where you are from. Where I come from, most of the girls I knew were molested. Some of them by their biological fathers, some by step fathers. I myself was molested by my stepfather and my own mother. My mother and several of her sisters were molested by their father. I have a friend who is in her 60's and she shared with me that out of her group of 6 friends growing up, only 1 had not been molested and that girls father was out of the picture (I don't recall if he was dead or just not in the picture). While I agree that not all fathers molest their own children, I had to work hard to accept this thought.
Perhaps you could take a walk in someone else shoes before you chalk it up to "all men are bad" syndrome. Some women have had to overcome great lessons in learning that in fact, not all men are bad. That is why I am thankful that the longer I live, the more I need to try to see things from another persons point of view. Our paths shape us into who we are. You would do well to realize that people like Precious really do exist.
I will go along with the theme. Why is this show showing the young girl being exploited by people not in the exploiting class?
She was not exploited by the white exploiting class.
[...] original here: ‘Precious’: Unforgettable Story of Hope, Self-Reliance This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
I am currently reading the book. It is a quick read. So much sadness. I don't know if I will see the movie.
Do you know what you call a man who practices nursing?
A nurse.
It's amazing that there are still people who call us "male nurses"…It's almost 2010 ya know! "Male nurses" went out with "female doctors" years ago (On pun intended). Just saying…
If an inner city black girl makes it to 18 without being molested it's becasue she has really good parents. Nobody wants to talk about it but there it is. I won't see Precious becasuse I've seen it too many times in real life.
Just reading the synopsis depresses the stew out of me…
the comments here are almost more interesting (and telling) than the review of what sounds like a movie worth seeing.
I'd like to go see it. I wonder if it will get a wider release.
I agree with @akaLeppod.
The trailers I have seen of this movie drew me in. Precious' character drew me in. I have worked for years as a child advocate and it is interesting to note what makes children resilient when life slams them. What can we learn from them? How can we help others be resilient and find life beyond hardship? If a story is told well, moves beyond an agenda, and inspires, then I will pay attention.
If you don't mind, how about telling us why?
When I did my student teaching I worked at a school in a very poor area and the stories I hear from the kids really mirrors the story here. It broke my heart and while some of the comments here reflect the attitude that this sounds depressing (and it is), people need to understand life is like this, all too often, for kids that live in the welfare state. Normally I wouldn't watch anything with Oprah backing, but this sounds like it has merit and may draw attention why welfare is a bad thing rather than perpetuating the giving a person a "hand-up" myth.
Again…I know there are people( like main charcter form this movie) around us,but I really want to see less evil and monster driven human stories….turned into movies.
Can we ask for a great movie full of good choices and great advices, personal sacrafice and loving parents….For how long do we have to go in depth with wrong and negative?
Don't you all read news? How about those girls beiong raped by fahter and his four sons in MO if I am not wrong, having abortions when they were 11, how about serial killer taht was captured while there were rotting bodies in his home….how about all the reality,isn't that enough?
Do we really need to go and see it after we read it in the news?
It seems like glorification on evil,it is not anymore a human story..look at the film industry..Look at all the horror stuff being made over and over,our kids are more likely to see horror movie then anything else…now this! Who is thinking positive , why can't we see something like that with the same message? We are overcoming many things in life in many other ways, there are so many different stories,make a different choice please…..
I am sure they did a great job in this movie but please ….enough…..
I agree with you and I admit to avoid moves like this as well.
I wish for positive stories of overcomingm life's problems, movie where there were great parents and good kids, just like there are in real life..it seems like only evil and negavite is served today.
People will talk about this forever and that is a shame,yes she is probably coming out of that situation as a winner, but horrors of her life will never be over and will always stay with her…don't get me wrong but image of damged is embraced not just as underdog, but is glorified to this level, where it will be a big Oscar contender..so this is all that many young kids will see this winter,being served all the horror stuff over the years they will think this is just fine to pay a ticket for and sit in cinema and watch a horrific story of damaged humans life…is that what our lives are?
@ Long Rider – True, but in this particular case it's important to point out that the nurse is male, since Precious has such little experience with men being non-evil.
@ akaLeppod – That is just what I was thinking. This stuff is real, and those of us who, thankfully, have mostly good men in our lives, need to remember that not everyone is so lucky. It's not male-bashing to recognize this.
I wouldnt mind stories like this if they were able to make the audience outraged enough to say "THIS HAS GOT TO STOP, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS" – instead people who really are in this situation are only given pity and then forgotten. Why arent people going after the awful ones putting these children through this horror? Why isnt the father getting raked over the coals? Why isnt the mother getting the fear of God put into her for not doing more to protect and nurture her daughter? I cant imagine leaving my baby girl to a life like that – why is it so acceptable that others have?
While it's true that in recent years we have been pummeled with the "men are stupid and bad" and "women are smart and good" meme, it is also true that there are bad people out there harming children, regardless of race, age, gender, etc. My father and my 2 grandfathers were exceptional men. My husband and his father are exceptional men. They are, of course, out there. But so was my aunt's husband who abused her and their four children, both physically and sexually. And they didn't live in a ghetto and my grandparents weren't horrible people to my aunt (my father's sister). It's always a complicated issue.
This sounds like it is at once, both depressing and uplifting. The only time I don't like seeing the negative is when it's made-up or over-exaggerated. But this is real, as I'm sure many can attest to. And we should see and then we should see how this girl is taught to lift herself up. That is a wonderful conservative message.
How incredibly small minded you are.
@Maja Wiggins
So, was "Schindler's List" glorifying the evil of the Nazis?
Or was it a story of a normal guy who said "Enough!" and heroically fought against such evil?
I hope you answer "No" to Question 1 and "Yes" to Question 2.
A movie acknowledging the evil in the world should be confused with condoning it. Such movies exist to remind us that ordinary people can confront and defeat evil rather than ignore it or worse participate in it. "Precious" sounds like one of those movies.
Now, I agree with you that it would be depressing if EVERY movie set in "the ghetto" was cut from the same cloth as "Precious." So, there are traditional family alternatives like "Akeelah and the Bee" (now on DVD), a favorite of mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb6P-dDMQLI
So, we have choices. We just have to be bold enough to find them and support them.
This movie will move you. You will cringe, you will laugh, you will cry. The movie is not filled with cliches or stereotypes. It is a unique story with very unique characters.
It also poses the question, what is love? My home girl, Pia Varma, coincidentally just wrote a little blog about love. She got criticized for saying that the only true love is conditional. Precious shows what happens when people think they are entitled to unconditional love. Problem is it poses a moral hazard. Enjoy.
http://web.me.com/dagtag/Site_7/LaissezFaireLoung...
This movie will move you. You will cringe, you will laugh, you will cry. The movie is not filled with cliches or stereotypes. It is a unique story with very unique characters.
It also poses the question, what is love? My home girl, Pia Varma, coincidentally just wrote a little blog about love. She got criticized for saying that the only true love is conditional. Precious shows what happens when people think they are entitled to unconditional love. Problem is it poses a moral hazard. Enjoy.
http://web.me.com/dagtag/Site_7/LaissezFaireLoung...
Child abuse is the root of all evil.
I know Anwar al-Awlaki has a completely different perspective about this issue which is chilling at best.
This sounds like more of a "film" to me than a "movie." And my tastes tend more to movies. When I go to a show, I want more to be entertained than taught.
Having said that, I find no problem with the subject, or the story line, assuming the review is accurate. Yes it exposes an unpleasant reality in our society. But is also posits that those who are confronted with that unpleasant reality are not confined by it. Most regular visitors here are believers in personal responsibility and individual freedom. To me, the hopeful message is that Precious is taught, and comes to believe, that despite the awful things that have been done TO her, they do not have to define her. She has the opportunity to fulfill her potential. I have no problem with a message like that. I much prefer that message to one which promotes eternal victimhood.
Snap out of it and move on with your life.
So that you won't have the other being the only comment. I will let you know I gave a thumbs up. Your comment tells me you have "moved on with your life." Of course our pasts shape how we view the world. But our futures are for us to determine. Good luck with yours.
I think you do get my point while making your bold choice.
Half of my family form my late's father side was killed by nazis during second world war, my great aunt was taken out of a class in high school and shot by Nazic together with her mother who they brought to join her daughter a front of the fiering squad, for being memebers of resistance. They only had a moment to look at each other and they were executed. My elementary school was used as Gestapo HQ during second world war. I did not watch "Schindler's List" ,even" Pianist" was very hard for me to watch…
I grew up in Communism and was taken togehter with other kids from school to watch documentaris from concentration camps…actual footage… that was found in library of Gestapo HQ .(.so we can learn while young-good ole' commie way) about horrors Nazis did…experiments on humans, boiling babies, experiments with human mind, experiments on humans, horrific sexual experiments, experiments on pregnant women etc…those are the real horros concentrated in concentration camps…so shindlers list should exist in every way to expose evil at it's best! Maybe one day I will be able to watch it.
I am not comparing two nor I'm trying to look at it in a general way, I should have expressed myself better and said that movies are easily being made exploiting such story as Precious….I hope someone wants to do something positive….I don't care for movies like" Akeelah and the bee"
I also do because I go to the movies to be entertained. This is not entertainment. I can turn on the news and get this kind of stuff. I also did not watch "The Passion of the Christ" all of the way through because it felt like seeking entertainment through a, as South Park put it, snuff film.
Liberals made me that way. No matter what they touch it is not something I want to support if I can help it. They made everything political, so I am treating everything as political.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Le Combat, Anita Miller. Anita Miller said: RT @LeCombat: ‘Precious’: Story of Hope, Self-Reliance http://bit.ly/L6y2B Concerned people not govt saves life towards productivity &pride. [...]
Great. Now that the holidays are here, and there's a recession impoverishing everyone, there is nothing I'd love to spend my meager savings on than to watch a film about an grotesquely obese black girl raped and impregnated twice by her own father. Yup, that's the thing that will cheer me up over the holidays – goody! I can hardly wait. Who wants to see 'A Christmas Carol' (1951 Alistair Sim version), 'The Nutcracker' (with Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov) or "It's a Wonderful Life"? Give me a hideous subject that turns your stomach and nauseates you for days – the nausea made worse by the PC club smashed over my head as punishment for not gushing over this film. Oh, yeah, that last part is the best.
I guess you don't watch any television or go to any movies or read any newspapers and magazines. After reading all kinds of crap on this website, I have been led to believe that the entire media industry is owned and run by liberals – educated and from the East Coast of course.
For every 1 Akeelah there are 50 Precious/50 cent ghetto movies w/r&b stars. It's a tired, condescending business model that needs to be laid to rest. I have no interest in seeing this TYPE of movie because there is nothing new here or anything endorsed by Oprah.
Considering your experiences, I understand why "Schindler's List" and "Precious" would be hard to watch. You have my sympathies.
Question: did you watch "Akeelah" and encourage others to do the same?
You got all that from the trailer?
You miss the point… Someone noticed her. Someone was willing to do something about her situation. This is about overcoming one of life's problems.
And, good news, they are still showing re-runs of Touched by an Angel and Leave it to Beaver if you want to see heartwarming without trauma…
Lone Rider,
Nice point…
V/R,
Female Airmen
Stop! The irony is unbearable!
Actually, except for some TV (none of the alphabets), I don't go to movies (rent one or two a year), and don't read newspapers and magazines. Haven't for years. Glad of it.
I read the book. Before you all pass judgement, why not do the same? I am not an Oprah fan. I happened to catch an interview Gabourney did on one of the morning shows. I was impressed enough to stop at Borders and look for it. For all of you small minded jackals…it's an easy read…no big words….no politics….no religion. Just a story of a remarkable young woman trying to live life on her terms…despite all the obstacles in her path. Heaven forbid it try to touch all of those cold hearts and negative souls. It does NOT male bash. It simply tells of her life with her father. Very few other men are even mentioned, and that is only on the periphery of the story. The author isn't trying to castrate men…or teach a lesson in race relations. It is simply about one girl…and her strength…and beauty.
At some point I’ll see this movie. From my earliest memories I was conscious [to the point of burdensome] of those that had physical handicaps or other differences. One day in junior high about a dozen of us went o McDonald’s and while we’re sitting at the table talking and joking a handicapped man walked in who had a difficult time walking. My friends started laughing, I was mortified then enraged. I considered ripping their heads off and giving them to the man as a token of apology. Fortunately he didn’t hear them. I was disgusted that people could be so callous and I made sure they knew what I thought about it. Movies like this put a human face to those individuals that are objects of ridicule by the cold and heartless among us. I think these are important films.
The NAACP and Libs wont like this film. It shows people that even though you've been brought up to be a victim, you don't have to stay one. Libs don't want these people to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. Who would be left for the handouts and votes.
I've "opened my mind" forever. You don't live in this world and not get force-fed by Liberal Statist garbage. Finally decided to do the Liberal 60s version of tune out and do things for myself. Basically, I am going Galt.
"Finally decided to do the Conservative version of the liberal 60s tune out . . ."
Hardly educated. In case you hadn't noticed, plenty of congenital idiots have brand-name diplomas.
"Vastly overweight and carrying her second child at the far-too-young age of 16, Precious is an African-American girl living in the Bronx who’s stuck four years behind her age group in the 7th grade, with a single mother who is verbally, emotionally and physically abusive towards her. Her father is only in the picture enough to come over and rape her, which led to her first child being born with Down Syndrome, and Precious utterly unaware of proper prenatal care or even a delivery date for her second."
Jeez, is there an Official Victim Group they left out?
Oh, yes… Precious is saved by the intervention of a loving lesbian couple.
The trailers make me cry every time I see it.. I can't wait to see it! God, we need hope in these days and an expression of it to encourage us. Maybe Hollywood can produce something worthwhile after all. Now if they can learn from it and make more
Where you come from is obviously a ghetto.
I'm sorry for your terrible experiences. Here at Big Hollywood we are trying to turn around a liberal culture that led to policies that put your parents in the ghetto and gave you a broken home. We're trying to restablish a culture that believes in traditional marriage, respect for women, honorable men who provide and support their families, and children who are safe and secure in their own homes.
Most of America is not a ghetto. Look at a map and you will see hundreds of towns and suburbs where millions of kids have to deal with nothing more tragic than homework, bicycle scrapes, and what's for dinner. That's where I come from, and the FBI statistics support this. Crime in America is contained in a few blighted areas. I'm sorry that you ended up in one of them.
Man, you are one fine example of the ridiculously judgmental type of person who gives all of us conservatives a bad name. If you took the time to get off your high horse and see the film, you would see the father is a tiny factor in the story – they don't even show his face, or barely. There is a nice male nurse who helps Precious as well. The rest of the characters are women, and no, there's no loaded point behind that.
man what a great life you must lead, sitting alone in your barren apartment devoid of all books, radio, TV and other forms of entertainment, just railing at the planet and all that's wrong with it… Mmm mmmmm, boy i wish i had the delightful opportunity to hang out with you!
Amen, hallelujah, someone who gets it!!!
That is why I own a house, work for a living, and am married.
"Man, you are one fine example of the ridiculously judgmental type of person who gives all of us conservatives a bad name."
Way to Overreact. Its just one guys opinions of a movie to another. I suggest you get off your high horse and take things a little less seriously.
Clearly, you've never worked in a pregnancy resource center. Chatting with the counselors at the center, I've heard a few horror stories on par with that in "Precious."
The sad part about this discussion is how many conservatives (likely White and suburban) assume the film promotes "victimhood" because the title character is Black and poor.
"Precious" may or may not be good, but there is nothing remotely classic about the simultaneously gimmicky and pedestrian novel "The Color Purple." To describe it that way undermines my confidence in the entirety of your review. Just sayin'.
People living near massacre sites like Columbine and Virginia Tech would disagree. And didn't some nut fatally shoot a bunch of people in Colorado a few years ago?
Just a reminder that moral depravity is not just a "ghetto" thing.
Conservative writer and speaker Star Parker summed this up best in "White Ghetto":
[B]lack social problems are symptomatic of a national problem. Irresponsible sexual behavior has no racial boundaries. Middle America is skilled at condemning faceless gang members whose arbitrary bullets cut short random lives. But we are blind to our own corruption. We criticize the welfare mother for not paying her own way while racking up thousands in debt on our Visa. Rather than addressing teenage sex through abstinence programs, we allow the public education system to cart our children off to abortion mills and alternative lifestyle seminars. We demand the government be held responsible for the effects of natural disasters instead of turning to God and ourselves. Our button-down shirts, eco-friendly cars, and cafe lattes disguise morals no better than those of the drug dealers in the Bronx.
http://lashawnbarber.com/suburban-renewal/
Exactly.
I am going to tell you what I am going to do with the ten bucks I am not going to spend on that trash, I am going to add another 200 to it and I am going to order me a bone in Rib Eye Steaks from Allen Brothers, then I am going to make sure I have plenty of seasoned red oak, split and ready. I have a lot of it. Then on Thanksgiving morning I am going to get up and get out into the woods with a favorite rifle, Its tradition, I shoot deer on Thanksgiving Day. Then about mid day I am going to get the fire going and around 5 pm I am going to start on the Allen Brothers Rib Eyes and the fixings to go with it, After that I will finish tending to said deer, by the time Christmas comes, I will have one of life's great treats, Pickled Deer Heart. Since where I live I can shoot as many as I may need. So Carl am not Judgmental, what you think is Judgmental is just plan standards. I use to be counted on to go to the Movies at least twice a week, now most of what I see is just plain substandard junk. This one will be no different. Now I drove 120 miles to see The Stoning , That was well and interesting movie, along with the Hurt Locker. But if you liked it fine, Good for you. One of the Great things about America, is that if you done want to read or watch junk you don't have to and the other thing is that you can say so too. Freedom is great, one man's garbage maybe another man's treasure.
Don't forget to remind the guys who wear shirts that say "MURSE."
Bonnie,
Thank you very much for such a great comment.I did not have American childhood and made the best I could out of childhood I had. I am happy to see my daughter growing up free in America. I believe in our country and our values. Majority of us share that same belief ,for some reason I have a feeling FBI Statistics would support that fact as well. I wanted to say what you have said so well.
They make students read this .. and pretty much overwhelms kids and absolutely introduces them to very raw vulgarity and reprehensible/criminal behavior and a very unpleasant concept of cruel fathers & mothers, with the State as healer/rescuer A much too strong a book for the ages of the students the schools are giving it to, and not something that will last as classic literature, either. Now a movie! Great! Ugh! Plus the author of the Color Purple wrote "it's about what I believe about God," so then why is everyone looking at how black women struggle – in a population of rotten menfolk and manage to flirt with homo-erotic behavior in the midst of it all? hmm. High school required reading. Daughter came up with, "Walker's The Color Purple means her belief that God is in all – "God" represented as the color purple – glimpses of purple(God) in unexpected places (in people, in things) . Also, what kind of missionaries were they if they walked out on the African tribe at the moment they needed spiritual help the most?"
I am looking forward to seeing this movie.
Replying to Carl Kozlowski-
You're so obnoxious. Just take the criticism and the few bucks and stop jousting with the posters here.
Replying to Carl Kozlowski-
You're still hassling the readers here. Go change that silly photo of yourself instead.
Like it or not, we need movies like this every once in a while to remind ourselves to be grateful for what we have and be generous with our hands and pocketbooks. Plus, it's a great movie to take my son and daughters to see (12, 18 and 20) to show them that when they whine and complain about their ridiculous problems, there are people out in the world who really do need a *hand up* .
One note: the wording in the sentence "The father is only in the picture long enough to come over and rape her which led to her first child being born with Down Syndrome" should be changed, because neither rape nor incest is a cause of Down Syndrome.
"The feel good movie of the year"
"Opens Christmas Day"
"See it in I-MAX"
These movies are so depressing and incest is creepy plus I want to be entertained not troubled.
I found the story of Happyness much more uplifting and powerful than another victim story. Maybe the question should be asked, although I know there are problems anywhere you go, why are White suburbs not touched by victim-hood mentalities?
Big Hollywood has had that problem from the start. It was supposed to be about changing Hollywood culture, I thought, but often ends up with positive reviews of questionable movies I come for the political discussions and not the reviews that I have yet to agree with when they like a recent film.
Re: why "male nurse"?
Because the primary meaning of "nurse" is still "wetnurse", and men can't do that job. The language remembers, even when we forget.
I do sympathize. If Florence Nightingale had only called nurses "medical assistants" or something else, it wouldn't be necessary to define male vs female.
Simple.
Back in the 1950s, White liberals thought they could "help" end poverty in inner city Black neighborhoods via welfare programs. Instead these programs demolished Black families and neighborhoods as well as created an underclass that looked to the State-and by extension Liberals-for their deliverance. This created a victimhood mindset in many Black urban areas, which tend to vote for liberals.
However, the victimhood mindset has infected the 'burbs in a more subtle but still dangerous way through consumerism being valued over thrift. This leads to suburbanites thinking they can keep maxing out their credit cards without having to eventually pay the bill. They have a "something for nothing" mindset that Liberals can easily exploiting for their own political ends.
(cont.)
I'll close with this excerpt from "White Ghetto" written by conservative speaker Star Parker:
[B]lack social problems are symptomatic of a national problem. Irresponsible sexual behavior has no racial boundaries. Middle America is skilled at condemning faceless gang members whose arbitrary bullets cut short random lives. But we are blind to our own corruption. We criticize the welfare mother for not paying her own way while racking up thousands in debt on our Visa. Rather than addressing teenage sex through abstinence programs, we allow the public education system to cart our children off to abortion mills and alternative lifestyle seminars. We demand the government be held responsible for the effects of natural disasters instead of turning to God and ourselves. Our button-down shirts, eco-friendly cars, and cafe lattes disguise morals no better than those of the drug dealers in the Bronx.
Most people understand the difference between the word "there" and "their".
Let's see, I'm going to be depressed and hating most males after seeing this film? And I have to PAY for the privilege!?
I'll pass thanks. I like to feel good after a film. I don't need another pseudo intellectual, emotionally driven "drama" from hollywood. If I want that, I can just navigate myself to any news website.
PC Central commands that you be interested in this film not b/c you might have a kind heart, but b/c the main character is a down-trodden minority with a sad, sordid past and is quite unattractive.
If you do not rally and champion this film, you are a de facto racist and dick.
Most people understand the difference between the word "here" and "there". Guess you are not one of them, eh, snappy?
Why is it a big deal? There are a lot more female nurses so it just helps to tell the story.
Why? Carl is just replying to him, since he has actually seen the movie. And if you can´t fight over a movie on this site, where can you?
Bonnie, I have to disagree with you. If everything was fine you would not have to try to turn it around and "reestablish" a better culture. And where is a better culture more needed than in blighted areas?
Let´s say for the sake of the argument that crime is contained and all these problems are not your problems – does it really not concern you as a patriot that parts of America are condemned? And to get back to the point of this exchange, what´s wrong with making a movie about this subject, especially since this movie seems to have a good message? If you don´t care, fine, but why get angry like "George Semel" up there?
Some commenters here – and mostly not the regular ones – seem to think that it is an unreasonable demand and the height of political correctness to make a movie about the problems of a fat black girl. Get a grip. It´s fine to hate PC, but don´t become obsessed with it to the point where you are just as fixated on race, class and gender as they are. Last time I checked, movies about disadvantaged people overcoming their problems were nothing unusual. Jeez. You are not being forced to watch it with a gun to your head.
El Gordo, you obviously didn't read what I wrote. But that's okay, that's what some people do; they are like parakeets who attack themselves in a mirror, unable to distinguish between their own thoughts and reality.
As I said, I am part of a movement to take our culture back from the blight that has left these ghettos full of abandoned and abused children. So yes, it does 'concern me as a patriot' that there are blighted places.
I was responding to the nihilism of the poor ghetto dweller, Ouida Gabriel, who wrote that "where I come from, most of the girls I knew were molested." In her view, the whole of America is the terrible ghetto that she was born into. America is not a ghetto, it is in fact a wonderful and amazing place, and the few blighted areas can be saved if we all work hard to destroy leftism and return to conservative values.
When I see someone write about how terrible America is, that it is full of death and corruption and molested girls and depravity, I know that I am dealing with a leftist, a person who despises America hates her beauty and goodness, or a victim of leftism, so damaged by the dominance of leftist culture that they cannot see they have been poisoned.
Go read Atlas Shrugged. Wake up every day singing, happy, ready to seize the day and make America strong. That's what I do. You can, too.
Welfare is not bad, it is a good thing created with the highest of intentions to help people like Precious, what is bad is people who use the system as a cash cow and people who don't care about helping those that want to help themselves.
Abuse happens everywhere and in every socio economic class. In some aspect this girl in the gettho had it good. The more education an abuser has the more sophisticated his methods of hiding the abuse controlling the victim and perpetuating the abuse. Not all men are bad but a great number of them are and many abused kids grow up to continue exponentally make the problem worse .
Arguing over a movie is fine. He just doesn't need to say that he is a ridiculously judgemental type that gives conservatives a bad name. I mean, WTH does his movie opinion have to do with conservatism in the long run anyway?
GS clearly thinks that the movie has unconservative values. But GS does not argue like someone who is actually trying to come to an informed opinion.
Many good movies are not uplifting and "Most Fathers do not rape there daughters" is an argument that can be used against any movie – most cops cannot kill a whole gang of heavily armed mercenaries.
Some people just wait all day to pounce on any real or imagined affront against their world view. They don´t even want to know the truth. You bet it´s judgemental. Even if he is right.
touché
I'm with you.
You must be logged in to post a comment.