| | | Exploring the Issue That Divides the World.
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 film has the perfect esthetic 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."
"...centers on abortion, but Kaye understands that while dead fetuses are the hook, the agenda covers the whole life cycle." David Edelstein, New York Magazine
"An extraordinary docu achievement...balances a full spectrum of views from all sides of the abortion debate..." Leslie Felperin, Variety
Editor's Note
Director Tony Kaye (AMERICAN HISTORY X) helms this black-and-white documentary about one of the most controversial issues in America: abortion.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner Home Video |
| Release Date: 3/11/2008 |
| Running Time: 152 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 55335 | | UPC: 00821575553353 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Anne Dudley - Original Music By | | John Salvi - Featuring | | Noam Chomsky - Featuring | | Norma McCorvey - Featuring | | Pat Buchanan - Featuring | | Peter Goddard - Editor | | Steve Golin - Executive Producer | | Tony Kaye - Producer | | Tony Kaye - Cinematographer | | Tony Kaye - Director | | Tony Kaye - Writer |
| Awards |
Nominee (2008) | | | Independent Spirit, Tony Kaye, Best Documentary |
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| | Professional Reviews | Box Office
"[T]he most thorough examination of the topic to date....Along with Kaye's masterful compositions, effulgent black-and-white cinematography elevates the material over typical documentary filmmaking." 10/01/2007 p.53Entertainment Weekly
"[A] success. It's impossible to watch Tony Kaye's theatrically supercharged, equal-opportunity button-pusher without experiencing a welter of emotions -- which is just what the filmmaker planned." -- Grade: B 10/12/2007 p.54 Los Angeles Times
"More than an exposition on abortion, LAKE OF FIRE feels like a seminal document in the American culture wars." 10/12/2007 Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Readers often complain about documentaries that don't tell "both sides." Those who care deeply about the issue of abortion in America, no matter which side they are on, may complain that "Lake of Fire" tells the other side. This is a brave, unflinching, sometimes virtually unwatchable documentary that makes such an effective case for both pro-choice and pro-life that it is impossible to determine which side the filmmaker, Tony Kaye, stands on. All you can conclude at the end is that both sides have effective advocates, but the pro-lifers also have some alarming people on their team...The film has been a life's work for Kaye, a British citizen, now 55, who has been filming it on and off for 17 years. He shot in 35mm wide-screen, using black and white (color would be unbearable). At 152 minutes, his film doesn't seem long, because at every moment something absorbing, disturbing, depressing or infuriating is happening. True, he comes down on neither side of the debate. But what he shows inadvertently is how the tradition of freely exchanged ideas in America has been replaced by entrenched true believers who drown out voices of moderation. - Roger Ebert
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