The surprise hit of Sundance, “Precious”, won’t hit theaters for two more months but this weekend it will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. After that there’s no doubt that the buzz for this highly anticipated film from director Lee Daniels will just grow louder (and along with it Oscar buzz for Mo’Nique as the mother from Hell). Anyway, the Los Angeles Times has a great profile of Daniels which includes why he chooses stories that may make many feel uncomfortable. (Remember “Monster’s Ball” and “The Woodsman”, which starred Kevin Bacon as a pedophile?)

Anyway, when Daniels read Sapphire’s poetic novel he had a profound reaction. But he was also conflicted. The story unleashed deeply buried memories of his upbringing in West Philly and the director so identified with the story that he wasn’t sure he wanted it told.

“When I reflect on it, on why I did this movie, it has a lot to do with my youth, what I witnessed, and that girl who came to my door at 3 o’clock on a summer afternoon when I was 11,” he says. “But it also has to do with the food I was eating, the pork, the chitlins, the cockroaches on the walls, the mice we’d throw bread at, it’s a combination of all that was.”

The girl was a 7-year-old neighbor named Angie and the moment was a seminal one for the director. Daniels remembers opening the door of their West Philly apartment to find this already morbidly overweight child, naked, crying, trying to cover herself with her hands, bloody welts raised on her back and arms by an electrical cord. The memory was profound, the words, “Mommy beat me,” haunted him, that and the fear he saw in his own mother’s eyes. “I remember my mother on her knees in the corner praying, and me thinking, ‘Where’s God?‘ “

Daniels admits that the filming process was hard. He had to schedule breaks for himself, Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibey (who plays the title character) where he’d hold them and they’d cry together. It will also be hard to watch. Therein lies the uphill battle for this film.  Because it tells  a very ugly story which may be all too familiar for lots of black folks—particularly sisters who’ve been abused. These are often shameful secrets that no one talks about. So even with heavyweights like Oprah and Tyler Perry—who can influence legions of fans—the truth on the screen may be too much to bear.

But this is a case where all of us need to take a big girl pill and support this effort. And perhaps in so doing we can start some meaningful discussions that can save girls like Angie.

Here’s a clip of Daniels discussing the film at Sundance:

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