Yes, I’m talking about Precious. And, let’s be honest, you didn’t hear it here first. Every critic, newspaper and glossy has been touting the movie as an underdog contender at next year’s Oscars. And the buzz isn’t misplaced. But pity the presenter that has to announce the film’s full title—Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire.

“Nobody loves me,” sobs sixteen-year-old Precious, morbidly obese, illiterate and pregnant for the second time after being raped by her father. Threatened with expulsion, Precious transfers to an alternative school where she finds a warm, do-good teacher, friends and, well, herself.

And so the stage is set for a slow clap, but for every obstacle Precious overcomes, the reality of her life on welfare in Harlem hangs heavy—her toxic, violent mother (Mo’Nique); her first child, Mongoloid, named because she has Down syndrome; AIDS in the 80s.

The movie isn’t diffused with the kind of hope you might get from, say, Freedom Writers, where Hilary Swank plays a teacher that inspires her at-risk students to apply themselves and rise above. Precious has a spark from the start, and privy to her daydreams of fame, success and a Mexican boyfriend—“the kind that would be on a magazine”—you escape the horrors of her life, too.

Old photographs of her mother animate to encourage Precious after her real mother knocked her out cold. Passing by a church in the snow after she’s given birth, Precious pictures herself as a vivacious gospel singer. When she’s being raped, Precious imagines herself on the red carpet.

Gina, who caught a screening at the New York Film Festival earlier this month, thought the gimmick was a bit flashy and appreciated the movie’s message more than the piece of cinema. Precious is empowered, but at the end of the day she’s still a teenager raising two kids without a GED and coping with a jealous mother resentful that Precious’ father was more interested in their daughter. It’s not based on a true story but the movie rings truer than most that are. Even Mariah Carey, dear skeptic, shows some chops that will make you say, “Glitter, who?” Precious lives a hard life, the movie makes no apologies for it. You believe in it.