She is Precious

I recently watched the movie Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire. It was a horrible movie. It wasn't a bad movie, mind. But it was heart-wrenching and thought-provoking. It made me feel fury, compassion, fear, love, hate, confusion, and hope.
It was the story of a 16 year old African-American, still in middle school, who had been physically and emotionally abused by her mother. She had also been raped by her father. And was was pregnant with his second child. The basic story is about her going to an alternative school to attain her GED so she can graduate high school and eventually college. But it went much deeper than just the superficial. It made me think about things I had never really thought of, in ways I had never tried.
One thing that especially struck me was the movie's portrayal of the welfare system. Precious' mother is basically a lazy bore who sits in her chair all day watching TV. Precious does all the work, and if she falls behind she is beaten. Her mother also uses her for sexual satisfaction. The only reason the mother cared about Precious at all was because she received extra welfare money for having a child. The mother repeatedly told Precious to go to the welfare office, because she wasn't going to amount to anything else. I couldn't even imagine a mother actually encouraging her child to stay in the squalor that was their life. I was furious that a system that was supposed to be helping people could allow such manipulation and abuse to continue. I don't think welfare is wrong, but when it becomes an encouragement to people playing off it, something needs to change.
But the mother herself was a lost soul. She was bitter and angry that her "man" had chosen her daughter over her. She tried to defend her cruelty to Precious by asking how could she love Precious when the man who was supposed to love her wanted her daughter instead. Although this didn't justify her actions, it helped me understand - at least a little - what a miserable life she led.
The movie Precious is not for the faint of heart. It is full of vulgar language and graphic violence. It tells the story of a girl trying to break from a vicious cycle, and her struggle is by no means easy and by no means is it portrayed to be so. But in the end it is a story of the hope of humanity: an individual who's only light has been the one inside her, and who when at last is free keeps that light shining for everyone else.