Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

  • Starring: Noam Chomsky
  • Summary: Filmmaker Tony Kaye, best known for “American History X,” has been working on Lake of Fire for the past fifteen years and has made a film that is unquestionably the definitive work on the subject of abortion. Shot in luminous black and white, which is in fact an endless palette of grays, the the film has the perfect aesthetic for a subject where there can be no absolutes, no ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’ He gives equal time to both sides, covering arguments from either extremes of the spectrum, as well as those at the center, who acknowledge that, in the end, everyone is ‘right’ – or ‘wrong.’ (THINKFilm)
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. 100
    If nothing else, the film puts the lie to the notion that an abortion could ever be frivolous or lightly considered. On that point, everyone in Lake Of Fire agrees, whether they acknowledge the other side or not.
  2. 80
    At once monumental and ghostly.
  3. Reviewed by: John DeFore
    80
    Smart, visually appealing, and consistently engaging.
  4. 80
    Highly compelling, if overlong and overwrought.

See all 15 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. RobertS.
    10
    How this sober, unflinching documentary failed to receive an Oscar nominations is beyond me. Director Tony Kaye goes to great pains to interview people with a wide array of beliefs on the issue - a fact that leads me to believe that the review by rob s is an intellectually dishonest one, placed by someone who hasn't even seen the documentary. Yes, Noam Chomsky is interviewed, but so are anti-abortionists of many different stripes - from the articulate to the wholly irrational. Perhaps most stunning is Kaye's focus on one woman, who receives an abortion. In a stunning final scene, he simply allows her to describe her complex feelings without interruption. As for Jake W, the documentary does clearly depict a pro-Choice advocate, asking why the anti-abortion protesters aren't lining up to adopt unwanted children. Adoption is actually discussed several times throughout the film. But it's not a documentary about adoption - or alternatives to abortion. It's a documentary about the struggle among Americans to come to a common understanding about abortion. The fact that Jake W. and Rob S. (both men we should note) dismiss the documentary so easily merely highlights the fact that they're not willing to consider viewpoints other than their own - something the film masterfully details, as well. Expand
  2. [Anonymous]
    10
    2 and a half hours, and not a minute spent off the edge of my seat.
  3. JakeW.
    6
    All these reviews, touting the movie's evenness, may have led me to judge the movie more harshly than if I'd seen it without hearing anything. The movie is not about abortion, it is about abortion clinics and Christian Fundamentalists who attack them. The movie is interesting and provocative and maddening, but that isn't surprising--even a less attractive and professional film about abortion would be all of those things, too. About half of the movie, in my estimation, is spent making it redundantly clear that the only pro-life argument is in the bible, and anyone who doesn't read count his steps on the Sabbath must, simply must, be pro-choice. Oh, and shouldn't a film about abortion mention, more than accidentally, adoption? Expand
  4. robs
    0
    Propaganda piece through and through. Chomski is as radical far left as it gets. Maybe because movie critics in general are far left of center they actually believe this is a fair piece that gives an accurate view of boths sides of this debate. Expand

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