Review: Precious

Review: Precious

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Precious is a disturbing movie, unsettling because we know in some deep, hidden place within us that the story is too, too close to truth. The acting is raw and real. Nothing is prettified. When all is said and done, we are horrified that children can grow up in the complete absence of love, and amazed that they often do all they can to understand what love can be. The movie feeds our hope that there are idealistic souls who strive to help, but it is oh-so-obvious that there are too few of them and that they have neither time nor money nor power. Finally, we are left alone with our worst fears: in the end, the individual must save herself. A miracle must occur and only a few have the grace and power to do it. It's a very disturbing movie that ultimately asks how we can turn our faces away and pretend that the poor and uneducated aren't sinking deeper and deeper into the morass. I've been told that a common response to this movie is that such conditions just don't exist, that it's all outlandish exaggeration. Heaven help us.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it