Precious

Merijn and I went to see the much debated movie 'Precious' yesterday. It's about obese, emotionally and sexually abused, HIV-infected, illiterate teenage mother Claireece 'Precious' Jones, living in New York's Harlem in the late 80s. It's shocking, ugly, touching, telling and important. Go see it. (In the Netherlands from December 3rd.)

Margriet Oostveen wrote about it in the Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad (Nov. 20th, 2009). The movie generates controversy. Some think it is stigmatizing and casts a shadow on the emancipation of the black community. Others say, which I think makes more sense, that stories like Claireece's are nothing like unique; they are everywhere and need to be told - read what the comments on this NY Times article say. Now with an Afro-American in The White House there may be new resilience for less pretty stories to be addressed. Besides, blacks do not hold the patent on problems like AIDS, illiteracy, incest and obesity.