Review of "Lake of Fire", a "documentary" on abortion

Two stars out of four from Christianity Today.

Reviews: Lake of Fire | Christianity Today Movies

Lake of Fire, the much-anticipated abortion documentary from British director Tony Kaye (his first film since 1998's searing American History X), has been touted as the "definitive" film about abortion. It has also been heralded as being aggressively even-handed—a documentary fair to both sides of the debate. Both of these claims, as it turns out, are a bit exaggerated. Lake of Fire is a remarkable film in some respects, but it is not groundbreaking or particularly definitive. And it is certainly not a fair take on the debate.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Instead, we get a lopsided parade of talking heads in which well-mannered, intellectual liberals (Noam Chomsky, Alan Dershowitz, Peter Singer) represent the pro-choice viewpoint and firebrand country bumpkin fundamentalists represent the pro-life side. Defenders of the film might point out that the brunt of screen time goes to Christians and pro-lifers, which is true. But the majority of time devoted to the "pro-life" contingent centers upon the fringe extremists who picket and sometimes bomb abortion clinics, and occasionally assassinate abortion doctors. This is the face of the pro-life movement, as represented in Lake of Fire.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The most effective sequence in the entire film comes at the very end of its exhausting, emotionally draining 160 minutes. Here we see an extended scene of a single woman in 1996, going through the whole process of getting an abortion (from check-in to pre-op counseling, through the actual procedure and finally the aftermath). Kaye's camera focuses intensely on this woman's scarred face (mangled from years of domestic abuse) as she explains why she is going through the abortion. We watch as a single tear falls down her cheek as the doctor sucks the baby out. Then we see her in the waiting room after it's all done, as she tries to keep it together but ultimately breaks down. The film ends here, appropriately, in a deeply complex, human moment that puts everything else into perspective.

Comments

[Theresa]

I guess I am not surprised but I am disappointed. I had actually decided in the end not to go...

Too bad they did not speak to those suffering after abortion. It is so strange to me how we are left out of the debate, as if we were just "things" or something and could

Also too bad they used "extremists" instead of some of the articulate wonderful women I know in the movement..(hey Judy..that is you )

Still, I hope it changes some hearts....

[Tony]

Theresa: I saw the movie and was highly disappointed. The only powerfully pro-life "arguments" was the showing of the baby after an abortion (the pro-aborts can no longer claim that the pictures of dismembered unborn babies are fake) and the woman at the end. I don't think anyone could leave that last scene and say that abortion is good for women. That poor woman was in so much emotional pain. I don't know if it was intended to give that message, but it did. Abortion hurts women. It exploits them. Unfortunately it's true that most of the anti-abortion people portrayed in the film were unbalanced and extremsists and that it did not include post-abortive women. But that last scene was very powerful and telling. Those open to the truth saw the pain of women who abort their children.