Precious Movie Belonging

"Precious" is a film that illustrates the experience of a girl who persists on finding reasons to live and push on despite not having a single reason to live for. Victim to abuse, incest, and rape, Precious struggles to do well in school while she is pregnant with her second child at the age of 16. Her second pregnancy causes her to be sent to an alternative school, where she learns to read and write and advance in her education. Shortly after Precious gives birth to her second child, she finds out she is HIV positive, which she got from her father. Instead of giving up when she was told she was going to die from the disease, Precious escaped abuse at the hands of her mother and was able to leave behind the bad and move on to a brighter future

Precious' mother did not support, love, or appreciate her, and Precious did not have a supportive group of friends that would fill in that empty hole. On the first day of the alternative education school, Precious says that she “feels here” when asked how she felt at that very moment in her ABE class. Her response reveals how worn out and beaten she has become through the years of abuse. This response is the start of Precious being able to feel and reveal to the world the girl she has kept hidden inside. In doing so, Precious developed a meaningful and lasting bond with her classmates as well as her teacher. They were there to support her during her hard times as well as offer her pleasant and memorable experiences. Learning to read and write has significantly helped Precious to become a self-dependent person as well as learn about the world around her. Being self-dependent comes with responsibilities and after Precious had her second child, she finally got control of her life. At the end of the film, Precious refused her mother’s request for her to come home and takes off with both her children. Being away from her mother and moving on with life allowed for Precious to have a need for control that she lacked under the restraints of abuse. Precious had a choice and she chose to free her newborn son from the miserable life she had to go through. As a result, she opened the door to love and confidence for her