The movie with the most buzz at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was “Precious,” an Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry-produced story of a young woman living in poverty. Precious is a survivor of incest and emotional and physical abuse who is unsupported by the adults around her. The movie is an unlikely hit because of its raw portrayal of tough, even taboo subjects, and because of the searing effect it has on those who see it.
The story of Precious is so unsettling that it would be easy to write her life off as just another product of Hollywood. Her experiences are seemingly unthinkable and it’s hard to accept that her story could be real.
But it is. Even in Charleston.
In our state, a teen gets pregnant every 50 minutes. The teen pregnancy rate in South Carolina increased 8 percent from 2004 to 2006.