The issue that has defined and divided the last quarter-century is undeniably abortion. People feel strongly about capital punishment, taxes, foreign policy, and dozens of other issues, but abortion has not only led people to kill but has also led people to vote en masse. As noted at one point in Tony Kaye's moving documentary on abortion, Lake of Fire, without the hot button issue, there are hundreds of politicians who might not be in office. When people look at lists of political viewpoints of the candidates up for election, their stance on abortion is almost always first on the list. It's a dealbreaker for millions of people out there, all of whom should see Lake of Fire, a brutal, hard-to-watch experience that offers no answers on a subject that simply doesn't have anything but graphically illustrates the arguments on both sides of the debate. Early in the film, Alan Dershowitz tells an allegory about a rabbi counseling a married couple and, after speaking to each half of the pair separately, coming to the conclusion that both were right. As Dershowitz says, "Everybody is right when it comes to the issue of abortion." Of course, what also must be true is that everybody is wrong.

With Lake of Fire, Tony Kaye provides footage of dozens of interviews with major players on both sides of the debate (including Jane Roe (as in "V. Wade") herself) and brilliant minds like Noam Chomsky, Dershowitz, and more. No one has the answers. There aren't any. Even if you're pro-choice, it's hard to look at the incredibly graphic footage of an actual abortion and see the little feet and eyes of an unborn fetus and not have even a little part of you think that looks like life. On the same token, even if you're strong pro-life, you can't look at the pictures of murdered doctors and women who literally killed themselves with wire hangers trying to perform their own abortions and think that's okay anywhere in the civilized world. Much has been made of the lack of viewpoint in Kaye's film, but there actually is a repeated one and it's that if you don't see at least a little bit of gray between your black and white opinions on the issue than you're not understanding what's going on.

It's hard to recommend Lake of Fire without the warning that it's somewhat akin to getting punched in the stomach for two-and-a-half hours. It's unflinching brutality is respectable, but also somewhat numbing with dozens of scenes that are literally hard to watch. Until the end when you won't be able to tear your eyes away. Lake of Fire almost pushes too hard, with some of the opinions sounding repetitive and the film dragging, until Kaye devotes almost the entirety of the final half hour to one case that's riveting and emotionally draining. We meet a poor woman who has been abused so badly in the past that her jaw was broken and she didn't go to the doctor. She has had abortions before and she's just starting to get her life together and avoid her self-abusive ways when she gets pregnant again. She also expresses sadness at the one child she brought to term and had to give up for adoption because of the abusive relationship she was in. Even after hearing over 120 minutes of passionate opinions on the issue of abortion, there is NO easy answer for this woman.

Anyone disgusting enough to think that women use abortion as a convenient birth control should see the pain in this woman's eyes. Anyone who thinks that these kind of decisions are easy should hear the tremor in her voice. Kaye doesn't say she's making the right or wrong decision, but, and this could just be my interpretation, does seem to imply that the choice should be available to her. Without it, she could end up back in an abusive relationship or worse. Kaye seems to be saying in the final act that all the opinions from Dershowitz to abortion doctor killers don't really matter when a woman is sitting in that doctor's office, having to decide for herself. At one point in the film, an interview subject says, "In the end, human beings have to decide. This is a choice that can not be made by others." Lake of Fire doesn't tell you what to decide, it just gives you as much information as possible to make the choice yourself.

Lake of Fire has been playing in theaters since early October and is currently stopping at arthouse theaters around the country. Check local listings and watch for it on DVD if it's already left your town. It's worth the effort.