Lake of Fire (2006)

This is going to be shorter than the typical pieces that are run here on Unseen Films, simply because there is little to say.

Tony Kaye’s decades in the making look at abortion is quite simply one of the best documentaries ever made.

Scrupulously fair the film has been known to rattle everyone who sees it. I’ve talked to people from both sides of the issue and found that they were forced to re-evaluate their position several times over the course of the film. I’m guessing the fact that the film refuses to take a side is the reason the film has slid into semi-oblivion. Who is going to champion a film that doesn’t champion your point of view?

Actually the film does take a side, that of the women who consider and even go through the abortions. Its all fine and good to say you’re for or against, but its kind of meaningless unless you know what the effect of the procedure is on the psyche of the women having them or choosing not to. In siding with the women Kaye has made a film that illustrates the intellectual arguments and then throws that all away in favor of humanity.

It is a masterpiece of cinema.

(A word of warning the film does have a graphic depiction of an abortion. Even though its shot in black and white it is upsetting no matter which side of the argument you stand on)