I'm still processing the movie, from both a cinematographical standpoint (Slags' teaching will never ever let me just "watch" a movie again without noticing every film detail), which I really don't think I liked, and (being the writer I am), from a screenplay standpoint, which I'm undecided about .
I'll start with the filming. It seemed to be half documentary half omniscient storyteller, which threw me at some points during the movie. The POV didn't seem consistent, and it felt like it distracted from the story, from the acting. And this is a story that, no matter who the director, producer, writer, cameramen, animator... even if you had the dream-team, the story is carried by the acting. This is not a story told through cinematography. The cinematography can only set the mood and carry the transitions of the story. The emotion and the heart of the story is in the faces and the voices. And so the cinematography seemed.... off. I know that it's closer to Tyler Perry's style, and since he did play a role in the making of the movie it makes sense, I'm just not fond of it in this particular context and story.
The screenplay is written from a book, and seeing as I haven't read the book (and thus this is my only understanding of the story), its harder to make a call about whether or not I like the way the screenplay tells the story. I'm biased toward the book (I always am), but this particular writing seemed... too fast almost. In order for the story to be powerful, the characters needed to be more drawn out. I wanted to see more vulnerability from Precious, from Ms. Rain, and from some of the other students. Those few scenes were by far my favorite, and I think that could've carried the story further. I've never been raped by my father, or abused by my mother, I've never been on welfare, or been illiterate as a 16-year-old. I've never stolen food, I've never had children, I've never been in any situation that even comes close to comparison to what Precious experienced. I needed to see the more broken side of her to really understand, to make it powerful. Because what moves me isn't watching other people be raped and abused (the act itself I mean), what really, really gets to me is when it breaks them. When they cry afterwards. Or when they cry the first five times and then after that they stop crying because it hurts too much. I needed to see the progression from the inside - this felt like I was watching from the outside. And if I'm supposed to be watching from the outside, tell the story from the point of Ms. Rain, the woman who is trying so hard to break Precious' walls down, to convince her that someone really does love her. I understand why they did what they did, I just don't think it was the most effective way to tell the story. And the ending felt too... good. What about the girls whose stories don't end happily? What about them?!
I'm still processing from an emotional, mental, spiritual and human standpoint too. And that, although more complicated, is also a more concrete reaction.
I cried more during "Freedom Writers" than I did during this movie. Not that FW isn't a fantastic movie, or that it isn't worth crying over because it absolutely is, I just expected "Precious" to be more tear-provoking. It wasn't.
The one scene, however, that did make me cry, also made me want to explode with Love. It inspired an all consuming, fiery, indescribeable passion (dangerous as this may be for me) to try to love every single person that exists. I know that it's impossible, to know 7 billion people and love them, but there are moments like this when I know that I have to try, that it is a pursuit that will carry me until the day I die. Isn't that supposed to be the only mission that God calls us to in this life anyhow? To love the way Christ loved. And that's my goal. That's all I want to do with my life - the rest is just details. I will Love because He first Loved me.
I am Love because Love resides in me.
I am Love. And so it is Love I will pursue, recklessly and relentlessly.
I Am Love.
