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Critics Consensus: Lake of Fire's engaging interviews and powerful black-and-white visuals make for a riveting and honest documentary about a very controversial topic.
Critic Consensus: Lake of Fire's engaging interviews and powerful black-and-white visuals make for a riveting and honest documentary about a very controversial topic.
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All Critics (54) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (3) | DVD (1)
When the focus narrows to the personal, the film becomes undeniably powerful in its specifics.
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.
For all its provocativeness, Lake of Fire is not a shapeless movie, nor a politically irresponsible one.
At 152 minutes, his film doesn't seem long, because at every moment something absorbing, disturbing, depressing or infuriating is happening.
No one will have an easy time of it with Lake of Fire, a work of profound anguish centered on the abortion rights debate.
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.
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.
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
Lake's head-on confrontation of a problem most people simply wish to ignore is documentary cinema at its most raw and vital.
As the U.S. elections media coverage becomes incessant, it's worth keeping in mind that actual listening to other "sides" can be enlightening.
An intense, sometimes sickening, documentary about the abortion issue in the United States which reeks of brimstone.
The most striking footage is of an abortion; the next is of hateful and ignorant Americans
Lake of Fire is graphic documentary on abortion directed by Tony Kaye (American History X, Detachment). It's journalistic reporting showing both sides. The interviews are with doctors, rednecks, and everything in between. It showed graphic images of legal and back alley abortions, that disturbs anyone on either sides. I'm still pro-choice and pro-life people will still be pro-life. It's more historical than scientific, which is fine, but I didn't learn many new facts. Also the run time is too long at 152 minutes, in that amount of time everything got repetitive and already said.
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 crazy and while it slightly leans in favor of the pro-choice movement, its still one of the most unbiased portrayals of the abortion issue that any filmmaker has dared to make. The most important thing that the film shows us is that Americans have a very hard time with rational debate and discussion regardless of their opinion or political affiliation.
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 by fanatics, and it shows pictures of the bodies of women who tried to give themselves "coat hanger abortions". Let me get back to the abortion shown, it's graphic and pretty hard to take, and yet, anyone who's pro-choice needs to see this and then ask themselves if they still feel the same. It takes all denial out of the supporters mind, they can't pretend it's "just a mass of cells" anymore. So, the question is no longer, "is it a human life?" or "is it a baby?", but what are the consequences of this child being born how will society deal with it? The film points out the hypocrisy of conservatives who in one breath will condemn abortion but in the other vote against sex education, birth control and welfare programs (apparently they're only concerned with babies before they're born). Being against birth control is an especially telling sign showing that many who are pro-life are more importantly anti-sex. Of course the film also focuses on the fanatical who whip their followers into a frenzy, and the consequences of that frenzy when one of their followers is unstable, showing the murder of Dr. Gunn among others. Of course, Doctor killers and fire bombers are a fringe group, but it's amazing how far-reaching their influence can be (when they show pictures of republican presidents with those who would later kill, it's especially chilling). Abortion is never painted in a glamorous light, and it's certainly not enjoyable for a woman to go through one. It's something no woman goes into lightly. "Lake of Fire" doesn't settle any arguments, it makes them and lets the viewer decide.
Exhaustively thorough portrait of the abortion issue in the United States.
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