Apart from an interminably-slow pacing problem for its first half, this is an excellent movie about child abuse that will both make your blood run cold and fill you with hope for the future.
The excellence of the performances is universal, especially from Gabourey SIDIBE as the abused Precious and MO'NIQUE as her woefully-abusive mother. The movie is essentially about their relationship of mutual need and entrapment as well as of the fact that the need for an escape from it is as pressing as the actual need for it – the only escape being the facing of reality. That a woman could be so needy and neurotic that she would allow her boyfriend to sexually abuse a three-year-old beggars belief and almost justifies murdering her. Yet MO'NIQUE manages to get under the skin of her character to let us see that she is just as abused as she is frighteningly abusive; almost making her human. Still, like her social worker, we find it difficult to remain in the same room with her for an extended period.
Paula PATTON and Mariah CAREY are also very good in their supporting roles, aided by good dialogue and the expert direction of Lee Daniels. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry deserve especial praise for bringing this to the screen – a gamble that paid off commercially.
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