Last week I went to see a screening of the film Precious and, frankly, I'd rather run my nails down a blackboard than sit through it again.

It was that good.

If you're confused by that seeming contradiction, you probably don't know much about this film, which chronicles the story of a teen-aged girl ("Precious") who is obese, abused and pregnant for the second time. It is so graphic and so jarring that when people asked me about it later my response was unintelligible. I wanted to put my hands over my ears, close my eyes and just babble, "la, la, la, la ..."

But, nearly a week later, what this film has left me with is completely rethinking how I engage people I come into contact with in life. By showing the despicable acts of violence and the glimpse at how abuse is passed down through generations, viewers experienced an in-your-face presentation of something that is almost never in our faces.