I thought this was an extremely powerful movie, but I do agree that the ending, which was presented as if it was supposed to be positive was not really if you think about it. It also felt way to abrupt and arbitrary. I thought the girl who played Precious was amazing and seemed to really BE Precious. Sure, Precious learned to walk away from her horrible mother and that was a good move, but she still doesn't have her GED. Plus, I know from my Dad who treated HIV patients for infections as a doctor in the 1980's that while there were rare exceptions, the average lifespan for an HIV positive African American in the 1980s was extremely short. The people who survived with HIV/AIDS were sometimes those with the most money and resources to get the most expensive treatments to fight off the disease as long as possible. I doubt Precious had a health care plan. If she had caught HIV now there is the posibility that she could live long enough to see her children grow up, assuming that she could afford the treatments, however it is still a dicey proposition even today when In this situation-- not likely, which made me horribly sad.

Also she just walked out of the welfare office with "Mongo" and her mother had brought her. How did Mary get Mongo if Mongo lived with the grandmother and how did Precious get authorization to just leave the office with the child. I also think Precious's last words to the social worker. That her and her family's problems were too big for Ms. Weiss to deal with and then just left, seemed hopelessly bleak and admission of defeat rather than of triumph. I don't know what custody arrangements the family had for Mongo, but once the social worker found out about the sexual abuse (and Precious's father was still alive at the time) the child would likely be removed from the family and placed in a foster home. It wouldn't be so easy for her mother to either get the child or for Precious to walk out with her.

I wondered what was going to happen to the children when Precious was dead. Who would take care of them? Also, people in the film didn't seem to be taking the AIDS thing seriously enough. Back in the 1980s when it was still thought of as the "gay disease" and no one knew how it was spread, there was major fear. It is likely that at least some of Precious's friends would have left her when they found out. I remember as a kid growing up in the 1980s, and a child of doctors who were the most well informed people about the spread of AIDS at the time that there was a lot of uncertainty and fear about how it was spread. When Greg Louganis hit his head on the diving board in the olympics and a bit of his blood landed in the pool where other swimmers were and it was later discovered that he had AIDS there was a massive outcry and fear he could have infected the swimmers. We were even warned off touching a tampon or pad disposal container in a bathroom with bare hands, lest the blood contain a trace of HIV. I thought this was an extremely powerful movie, but I do agree that the ending, which was presented as if it was supposed to be positive was not really if you think about it. Sure, Precious learned to walk away from her horrible mother and that was a good move, but she still doesn't have her GED. Plus, I know from my Dad who treated HIV patients for infections as a doctor in the 1980's that while there were rare exceptions, the average lifespan for an HIV positive African American in the 1980s was extremely short. The people who survived with HIV/AIDS were sometimes those with the most money and resources to get the most expensive treatments to fight off the disease as long as possible. I doubt Precious had a health care plan. If she had caught HIV now there is the posibility that she could live long enough to see her children grow up, assuming that she could afford the treatments, however it is still a dicey proposition even today when In this situation-- not likely, which made me horribly sad.

Also she just walked out of the welfare office with "Mongo" and her mother had brought her. How did Mary get Mongo if Mongo lived with the grandmother and how did Precious get authorization to just leave the office with the child. I also think Precious's last words to the social worker. That her and her family's problems were too big for Ms. Weiss to deal with and then just left, seemed hopelessly bleak and admission of defeat rather than of triumph. I don't know what custody arrangements the family had for Mongo, but once the social worker found out about the sexual abuse (and Precious's father was still alive at the time) the child would likely be removed from the family and placed in a foster home. It wouldn't be so easy for her mother to either get the child or for Precious to walk out with her.

I wondered what was going to happen to the children when Precious was dead. Who would take care of them? Also, people in the film didn't seem to be taking the AIDS thing seriously enough. Back in the 1980s when it was still thought of as the "gay disease" and no one knew how it was spread, there was major fear. It is likely that at least some of Precious's friends would have left her when they found out. I remember as a kid growing up in the 1980s, and a child of doctors who were the most well informed people about the spread of AIDS at the time that there was a lot of uncertainty and fear about how it was spread. When Greg Louganis hit his head on the diving board in the olympics and a bit of his blood landed in the pool where other swimmers were and it was later discovered that he had AIDS there was a massive outcry and fear he could have infected the swimmers. We were even warned off touching a tampon or pad disposal container in a bathroom with bare hands, lest the blood contain a trace of HIV.

remember a case where a kid who got AIDS through blood products used to treat hemophilia was drummed out of school and sued the school, that is how much it was feared.