Lake of Fire is a masterpiece, a landmark accomplishment in the history of documentary cinema. I can’t recommend it to everyone – its uncompromisingly explicit medical footage of abortions will be impossible for some viewers to sit through, and its straightforward inclusion of loony-bird fringe arguments on the anti-abortion side may upset both pro-life and pro-choice members of the audience.
But while it’s certainly flawed, it is a brilliant formal achievement and an extraordinarily provocative example of the cinema of ideas. The black-and-white footage, some shot by director Tony Kaye, some from other sources, has all been digitally enhanced to have the same sharp, silvery, bright, laser-focused look. This is not superficial slickness, but a superbly effective way to glue your eyes to the screen. You’ve never seen a movie that looks like this. (I saw a high-definition video projection at Chicago’s wonderful Gene Siskel Center; I can only hope other venues will maintain the high visual standard.)
In 152 minutes, Kaye (American History X) includes a wide range of material: many talking heads, but also documentary footage of events as they happened, as well as local news coverage and even a propaganda film made by anti-abortion activists. (The film was more than a decade in the making, and the sense of events unfolding is quite powerful in the first half.)
The intent is to avoid taking a point of view, to present arguments for and against legal abortions without evaluating them. The results are certainly skewed by including the most extreme pro-life advocates, whose allegedly Bible-based rhetoric verges on insanity and whose actions lead to criminal prosecution and a death penalty for the murderer of an abortion-clinic physician. None of the pro-choice voices ever come close to this sort of appalling and over-the-top quality, and so the film may be accused of pro-choice bias.
But no one after seeing this film will ever be able to make a straight-faced argument that a developing fetus is a non-human “clump of cells.” Nor will anyone who sees it ever forget the emotional journey of its last half hour, as we accompany a young woman to an abortion clinic, and watch every step of the process. Her tears after the procedure become our own. This is a movie intended to shake you up, and unless you are made of stone, it absolutely will.
Article comments
1 - Rev. Donald Spitz
I'm glad the movie shows the reality of an unborn baby being murdered by a babykilling abortionist. Paul Hill who is featured in the film is considered an American Hero by many in the anti-abortion crowd, including myself. He did a good deed in saving those babies from being murdered by that babykilling abortionist.
2 - handyguy
What Hill did was commit cold-blooded murder. And he was executed for it, as you know. This story is stunningly well told in the film.
The accomplishment of the movie is that you can begin to see how a reasonable person could be very upset by legal abortions - and yet you can also see, quite clearly, that Paul Hill was not the least bit reasonable. He was a manipulative opportunist and a very creepy individual.
And the type of rhetoric that you insist on employing will not solve this difficult social issue. It will only create more bad feeling and divisiveness. Shame on you.
3 - Equal Protection?
Excuse the pun, but abortion is basically a dead issue, or should I say dead upon delivery issue?!?! The law states it isn't against the law for a woman take the life from a fetus. Abortion may be a point of moral argument, but basically it is a conclusive legal victory of liberty over morality. If something is legal, the morality element is no longer relevant anymore. It is sad but true. Sorry dead babies.
4 - handyguy
It's an issue that divides people in a very emotional, visceral way, and I would say that fits the definition of an issue that is very much alive, not dead.