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Lake of Fire

Lake of Fire (2006)

tomatometer

93

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 54
Fresh: 50 | Rotten: 4

Lake of Fire's engaging interviews and powerful black-and-white visuals make for a riveting and honest documentary about a very controversial topic.

100

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 0

Lake of Fire's engaging interviews and powerful black-and-white visuals make for a riveting and honest documentary about a very controversial topic.

audience

90

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 2,824

My Rating

Movie Info

With Lake of Fire, American History X helmer and music-video director Tony Kaye climbs inside of the decades-old abortion debate for a 152-minute study of the pro-life and pro-choice positions. In the process, he uncovers not an objective black-and-white issue, but a myriad of circumstances and sub-issues of tremendous moral complexity and ambiguity. He then investigates the sub-philosophies and ideas that belie each side, with generous input and assistance from socialist Noam Chomsky, and via

Unrated, 2 hr. 32 min.

Documentary, Special Interest

Mar 11, 2008

ThinkFilm

All Critics (54) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (5) | DVD (2)

When the focus narrows to the personal, the film becomes undeniably powerful in its specifics.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: NPR.org | Comment
NPR.org
Top Critic IconTop Critic

You may not leave the theater having switched sides, but you'll probably respect the other side more, and that in itself would be a victory for human life.

December 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

At 152 minutes, his film doesn't seem long, because at every moment something absorbing, disturbing, depressing or infuriating is happening.

October 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

No one will have an easy time of it with Lake of Fire, a work of profound anguish centered on the abortion rights debate.

October 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Lake of Fire does something with the volatile subject of abortion that neutral observers and even political partisans can appreciate: It offers a wide representation of perspectives and opinions.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A 2 1/2 -hour documentary on abortion may sound like a hard sell, but the depth and scope of Tony Kaye's grueling Lake of Fire nonetheless justifies feeling like you've just taken a long, blistering soak in one.

October 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Doesn't aim to win converts or preach to the converted. His goal is rather to clear through the rhetoric, and look at abortion and its place in the American political dialog.

June 10, 2010 Full Review Source: DCist | Comment

The film shows shocking footage of actual abortions in progress and the remains of aborted fetuses, as well as the appalling images of murdered abortion clinicians and the horrifying testimonies of pro-life fanatics who are convinced all abortionists shou

June 1, 2009 Full Review Source: About.com | Comment
About.com

Lake's head-on confrontation of a problem most people simply wish to ignore is documentary cinema at its most raw and vital.

July 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | Comment
Paste Magazine

The film's focus on Bible-belting zealots seems as diversionary as those zealots' take on abortion . . . The film far too often ignores a woman's view . . . Most pundits in the film, and most critics, can turn abortion into a 'debate' because they're men.

March 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | Comment
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

As the U.S. elections media coverage becomes incessant, it's worth keeping in mind that actual listening to other "sides" can be enlightening.

January 17, 2008 Full Review Source: PopMatters | Comment
PopMatters

An intense, sometimes sickening, documentary about the abortion issue in the United States which reeks of brimstone.

January 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

The most striking footage is of an abortion; the next is of hateful and ignorant Americans

December 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Habit | Comment
Movie Habit

Demands we throw out our preconceived notions and face the issue without walls to protect us.

December 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies | Comment
Mark Reviews Movies

Doesn't quite feel as definitive as the filmmaker intended, although I can't imagine how any film on the subject could get closer than this.

December 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | Comment
Antagony & Ecstasy

definitive documentary on the subject that is so gripping that every thinking person will be forced to confront core issues

December 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | Comment

Hardly seemed like the "definitive" film about abortion as it thinks of itself.

December 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

For all its provocativeness, Lake of Fire is not a shapeless movie, nor a politically irresponsible one.

November 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out New York | Comment
Time Out New York

The astonishing feat of the documentary Lake of Fire is that it takes a topic about which everyone is always telling us what to think and manages to do justice to both sides. Or rather, all sides.

November 9, 2007 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | Comment
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Most of the footage... is at least a decade old - and the saddest commentary is that the discussion hasn't budged an inch.

November 9, 2007 Comment
Salt Lake Tribune

Fascinating but unsettling.

November 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | Comment
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Lake of Fire doesn't tell you what to decide, it just gives you as much information as possible to make the choice yourself.

November 8, 2007 Full Review Source: The Deadbolt | Comment
The Deadbolt
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Lake of Fire

An epic, nearly 3 hour documentary spanning over the course of 15 years about the highly controversial subject of abortion. It doesn't shy away from difficult-to-look-at images: it shows an actual abortion taking place as well as the remains of the aborted 5-month old fetus, it shows the bodies of Doctors gunned down

February 27, 2009
Mr Awesome
First Last

Super Reviewer

'Lake of Fire' is incredibly difficult to watch at moments, specifically the images of the abortion process or pictures of women who unsuccessfully tried to perform an abortion on themselves, but its one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. It shows the wide range of beliefs pretty favorably ranging from sane to

December 8, 2010
Alec Barniskis

Super Reviewer

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