My wife and I recently rented a 2007 documentary about abortion in the United States entitled Lake of Fire. It is directed by Tony Kaye, a British filmmaker who spent 15 years putting this documentary together.
Let me say up front that everyone interested in the debate over abortion in America should rent this documentary. Let me warn you in advance that there are some gruesome images, including footage of three abortions. There is also an indecent scene featuring a pro-abortion woman’s rock band that you will want to forward past.
But here are some of my thoughts on the film:
One of the important quotes in the film is that “when it comes to abortion, everybody’s right.” Kaye shows a surprising amount of sympathy for the pro-life movement, but he also empathizes with the women who choose abortion and the people who provide abortions as well.
The first half of the film seems to lean towards the pro-life view. By the end of the film, the balance has shifted in favor of abortion choice. The people that Tony Kaye chose to interview on the pro-life side turn out to be rather radical. And they are all men. So for the most part, the fanatics he films are on the pro-life side (although he does offer some footage of fanatical pro-abortion people as well).
The second half of the film is less helpful. Kaye spends an inordinate amount of time interviewing people who think Christian conservatives are seeking to reconstruct a Christian society based upon Old Testament laws. The conspiracy theories fly left and right, and they are never contradicted by any sane evangelical Christian.
There are also some ridiculous statements accepted at face value. Take for example the statement that “The Roman Catholic Church never had a position on when a fetus becomes a person.” (Did Nancy Pelosi happen to view this documentary before her embarrassing comments about Catholic theology?)
Or the statement of Noam Chomsky, who at one point says that “Everyone agrees infanticide is wrong.” Not true, Noam! Professor Peter Singer, one of the very people Kaye interviews for this documentary, believes that infanticide is acceptable. But we are never alerted to extremism on the left, only on the right.
But let me give Kaye some credit. He has the guts to show an abortion. The first abortion video is especially horrific. The cameras zero in on the doctor piecing back together the baby after the abortion is completed. At one point, we briefly see the doctor measuring the baby’s dismembered foot and head. (Unfortunately, the fact that Kaye chose to film the documentary in black and white mutes the horror of seeing the bloodbath taking place in the abortion clinic.)
Kaye also interviews Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe), who explains her role in the legalization of abortion. She then explains how she came to the pro-life position. She mentions a friend who worked in an abortion clinic and once opened up the freezer. “They were babies, man!” Norma cries. It is one of the most powerful scenes in the film.
The Problem with Kaye’s Documentary
Kaye spent fifteen years making this film, which means that the majority of footage he has of pro-life activists are those of the early 1990’s. He focuses exclusively upon the people protesting abortion clinics, and those who are responsible for bombing abortion clinics and murdering abortionists.
Never once does Kaye enter a crisis pregnancy center to talk to women who are helping other women through difficult circumstances. The only compassionate women in this film are those on the pro-abortion side. The only angry men in this film are on the pro-life side.
Kaye spends a great deal of time “exposing” the Right’s agenda to reconstruct a Christian society (a conspiracy theory that may be true of a tiny group of extremist Christians). But never does he point to the deception of Planned Parenthood, including the frequent cover-ups of statutory rape. Neither does he give us any history of Planned Parenthood, or the cause of eugenics promoted by founder Margaret Sanger.
The Problem with the Anti-Abortion Protesters
Then, there is the problem of the pro-lifers in Kaye’s film. While they do not represent the majority of pro-life activists today, they exist. And they shine light on many of the problems that plague the pro-life movement.
Problem #1: They are all Law and no Gospel.
You don’t see the anti-abortion protesters ever offering grace or forgiveness or mercy. You do not see compassion. You see anger. And you see an abberant view of the Old Testament Law that needs to be corrected. Some of the protesters believe we should execute homosexuals, abortionists, blasphemers, etc. In other words, “all the sinners deserve to be executed.”
Never once do we catch a glimpse of the grace revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ, in which our Savior was executed in our place. Simply put, there is no gospel here. I wonder how many of these people have actually experienced the grace of God.
Problem #2: Conflating Too Many Issues
Kaye may not be fair in pairing up extreme right-wingers with nice-looking, moderates on the abortion side. But I can’t blame him for exposing the agenda that comes across in his conversations on the pro-life side. The protesters talk about the NRA and the need to abolish the IRS. They condemn homosexuality and say we need to go “back to the Bible.” They talk about the founding of our nation by Christians.
In other words, they conflate too many issues. Instead of focusing on the abortion issue as a matter of justice for the oppressed, they link abortion to all the other perceived societal woes of America and use abortion as a springboard to condemn all the sins in the land. I wish that Kaye had found people who could articulate the pro-life view in a winsome way and with the ability to make careful distinctions.
Conclusion
Do I recommend Lake of Fire ? Yes. It is a thoughtful documentary that shows the worst of both sides. It is less biased than one might expect. Despite the flaws in Kaye’s presentation, Lake of Fire wrestles with the issues at stake and does not shy away from the hard truths that people on both sides of this debate face.
