Precious Review

This film will win multiple Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and has already been critically acclaimed and the winner of three awards at Sundance. Clearly this film has gained the favor of Hollywood. I am going to take a stand.
This film could have been great. Graphic depictions of abuse are rampant throughout the movie and at times well acted and disturbing for an audience to watch. However, this movie suffers from what executive producer's Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are often guilty of in their other work: being too over the top. The depictions of abuse are so common and horrific in this movie, it wears on the viewer and it becomes gratuitous. It is shocking and disturbing but more like the way movies like Hostel and Saw are disturbing, they are so dependent on shock value that it distracts the audience from the obvious flaws of the movie. The gratuity of Precious, horrifies an audience and when in the final third of the movie when it fails in character transformation the audience ignores because to criticize this movie would make one feel guilty and appear racist.
This movie fails because the characters are one dimensional. The mother at the end in her final confession, doesn't apologize or have any realization but instead justifies her evil abuses and so her character albeit the victim of abuse herself is one of complete inhumane abuse. The teacher is wholly perfect and there are no flaws in her character. At the end of movie when Precious is supposed to have fully matured and chose to be responsible for her children, she is pictured in front of the welfare building.
This movie tries to instill hope but instead becomes a one dimensional that forces pity and guilt down an audience's throat and nothing more.

Overal Score: 5/10 Bottom Line: Gratuitous and plodding and lacks reconciliation in the end. See this movie if you enjoy pity and guilt.