Precious

Precious, Based on the movie Push by Sapphire was anxiously awaited by this reviewer. I read the book Push by Sapphire twice. Although it is graphic and at times hard to read due to the illiteracy of the character Precious, it was not a depressing book. Even though horrendous events take place, Precious meets people that can truly help her to improve her life. The characters of Blue Rain and Mrs. Weiss especially are key to getting Precious away from the abuse from her own mother, Mary. Gabourey Sidibe delivers an eye-opening debut performance and it is unbelievable that Mo'Nique can become Mary so fully. Mariah Carey is OK as Mrs. Weiss but I felt that if the role was given to a more seasoned actress, perhaps the character would have been truer to the book. I believe Paula Patton could have handled the role of Blue Rain as portrayed in the book but perhaps Lee Daniels wanted to focus on delivering Precious' story fully. I appreciated his technique of showing her "coping mechanism" of dreaming she is a model while the abuse is happening as this lessened the horrendous acts as seen by the viewer. Kudos to Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey for bringing this wonderful story to the screen and Geoffrey Fletcher for adapting the screenplay true to the book. Two whole hands up clasped in prayer hoping that we will end abuse.