Lee Daniels’ “Precious” and Darrel Roodt’s “Yesterday” illustrate striking contrasts in the tone and atmosphere of their films, which follow the parallel journeys of two woman in unconventional family dynamics, amidst attempts to salvage their maternal roles and personal dignity. Precious is the nickname of Claireece, an overweight African American sixteen-year-old, residing in late 1980s Harlem who is regularly abused by her tyrant mother. The sexual abuse Precious experiences from her absentee father results in her contracting HIV and being pregnant twice. Despite the adversity she faces after being asked to leave school due to her second pregnancy, Precious registers in an alternative school that equips young woman with the necessary tools to earn their G.E.D. Along the way, she forms an unbreakable bond with her classmates and teacher, who help Precious overcome her demons. In contrast, Yesterday lives in Rooihoek, a rural township in Zululand, South Africa. As a result of her husband spending months at a time working in the mines of Johannesburg, she faces the challenge of raising her young daughter, Beauty, and providing for their daily needs without any support. All too soon, the delicate balance of Yesterday's life tilts and she winds up debilitated when she is diagnosed with AIDS. From then on, she has just a single worry: to ensure a bright future for her little girl.
What these two texts have in common is each author’s strong portrayal of hope in the lives of these women who triumph over life contexts of violence, ignorance and illness to regain their dignity and provide for their own and their children’s futures.
Both films use strong visual landscapes to orient their audiences into the lives of their main characters. Precious begins with a slow pan across a piece of construction in the middle of the city, stopping in front of a billowing orange scarf which abruptly falls from the lamppost it was tied to. The scene then transitions into Claireece’s first dream sequence where the audience sees an empty white room, with the camera focusing on a woman emerging from a blinding light. She is dressed in an elegant ball gown, approaching Claireece, clad in a sophisticated dress suit, with the orange scarf from the opening shot. The woman then places it over Claireece’s shoulder, with a warm smile before retreating into the ‘light’. The vivid white walls and lighting are in direct contrast to the previously seen filthy urban landscape while the rich colours and textures of fabric contrast with the plain and dirty outfit of Precious. In this way, the director shows us the reality of the ugly urban context of the film as well as the escapism and imagination that help Precious survive. Similarly, the director of Yesterday uses opening shots to inform of the context of the film. Yesterday begins with a slow pan across desert terrain, displaying dirt roads, deteriorating barb wire fences, long shots of mountains and a clear blue sky. The scene progresses with an extreme long shot of Yesterday and Beauty making their way along a dirt road that stretches for miles, to get to the village clinic. As they are in the middle of their trek, they are approached by two woman who are seeking employment as teachers in ‘Rooihoek’, the township of Yesterday’s residence. After giving directions and offering polite conversation, they continue their journey. We are introduced to Yesterday as isolated and tiny as she walks through an expansive and beautiful physical landscape with her child.
In Precious, Daniels uses the first-person point of view to reveal Precious’ inner most thoughts and feelings to the audience. He uses this point of view to good effect by making Precious the narrator of her own story, experienced by the audience through voiceovers telling her inner thoughts and feelings as well as providing background information. In fact, the voice of Precious throughout the film replaces any other form of background sound, Daniels having made the choice to have only diegetic sound. The exception to this exists only in the fantasy sequences when there is dancing and singing, for example when Precious is a movie star surrounded by admirers and fans. In contrast, Roodt utilises camera techniques and body language, to accommodate the lack of narrative voice in Yesterday. Without a direct insight into the way of our protagonist’s thinking and feeling, the audience is left to their own interpretations of the story. Short of Yesterday’s voice, non-diegetic sound in the form of chanting during climactic scenes, emphasises the South African context reinforcing the narrative line.
The place of illiteracy in both films is important to the narration and the portrayal of the main characters. In Precious, she expands her understanding of her own predicament and begins to be able to reflect on the abuse she has known from her parents. Daniels uses foreshadowing to indicate Claireece’s struggle with illiteracy. In the second scene, she can be seen refusing to participate in class and remains at her desk until she is called to the front office; “I likes math. I don’t say nothing. I don’t open my book neither. I just sit there.”
Later, when Ms Rain tries to get her to sound out a sentence from a book, she really struggles and gets flashbacks of traumatic moments including her mother calling her names, and her father raping her. Triggered by trauma she is unable to differentiate the letters from each other, “it all look the same to me.” As she learns to write and keeps a notebook she begins to record the awful details of her own story and reflects upon them. Her developing understanding of herself as someone with the role of a mother, helps her see more clearly what is wrong with her own mother. The empowerment of being able to read is shown when Precious reads her own Welfare file and the harshness of administrative words telling what happened to her, including details of sexual abuse and pregnancies. Yesterday is also illiterate. Although she knows her own life will be shortened by her illness, she lives to see her daughter start school and have her intelligence acknowledged and built upon for a better future. When the nurse shows Yesterday her medical results, she is unable to access the information. Her illiteracy is not the focus of the film, however, it is important because it motivates her to battle illness and work for her daughter’s future.
Dignity is an essential theme in both films. In Precious, Claireece reclaims her own dignity through the support from Ms. Blu Rain, her classmates and Nurse John, who help her muster the courage to resume working towards her goal of earning her G.E.D; “I took that TABE test again. I scored a 7.8. Last time it was 2.8. According to that test, I’m reading at a 7 and 8th grade level. Next year high school, after college.” Over time her self-esteem and confidence start to develop; “Last week, Ms. Rain asked us to write down what we wanna be like. I wrote that I be real skinny, with light skin and long hair. She read it and said I’m beautiful like I am. But somehow, right now… And I don’t know why, but… I think she right.” Claireece even manages to move out of her home and into a halfway house with both of her children, after obtaining full-time custody. She then ultimately washes her hands of her abusive mother, in the middle of the social worker’s office; “You know, I never knew what you was until this day. Not even after all them things you did. Maybe I was too stupid, or maybe I just didn’t want to. You ain’t gonna see me no more.” Yesterday on the other hand, saves face for her husband, by building a shack away from the heckling village, in attempts to provide comfort and dignity in his final hours. Yesterday also maintains a close-knit bond with Beauty, allowing her to ask lots of questions so she isn’t afraid of exploring and is ready for the days leading up to her first day of school, where Beauty will have to say goodbye to her mother for a final moment.
In conclusion, Daniel’s and Roodt were successful in using film techniques to illustrate not only the distinctions in the tone and atmosphere of Yesterday and Precious, but the themes of education, motherhood and dignity. Precious and Yesterday benefit from conventions, stylistic features and perspectives to illustrate resilience in the stories of two personalities, who triumph over instances of violence, ignorance and illness to salvage their dignity and provide for their own and their children’s futures.