Burn baby, burn

Tony Kaye made a splash when he directed "American History X". This time he has decided to tackle abortion, the granddaddy of all controversial subjects in America. He has meticulously constructed a documentary that strives very hard to show all points of the discussion so he cannot be accused of pushing an agenda. I suppose he succeeds but I also suppose that everyone may have a different reaction to what he gives us.

"Lake of Fire" refers to the phrase that some anti-abortionists, or Pro-Lifers, if you prefer, use to describe anyone who they feel is headed to Hell because of various indiscretions. To the Pro-Lifers it is obviously far more serious than indiscretions. You see how sticky the whole thing is but you knew that before reading this.

There is nothing remarkable about "Lake of Fire". In fact, it sometimes drags and drags and drags. At other times it manages to capture you for short periods of time. It only hums when a dynamic individual is on the screen. These individuals include Noam Chomsky, Nat Hentoff, Alan Dershowitz and Randall Terry.

When you peel away the extremists on both sides of the issue you are left with Chomsky, Hentoff and Dershowitz. Hentoff, the columnist for the Village Voice, is the ultimate Libertarian but is as opposed to abortion as Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue. Chomsky examines the issues surrounding abortion with his usual detached analysis.

Perhaps Dershowitz does the best job of summing it all up when he relates a story told by a Rabbi. A man and woman are involved in a dispute and they take their problem to a judge. First the judge listens to the man and says that the man is right. Then he listens to the woman and decides she is right. A third person upon hearing this tale asks the judge how they can both be right. The judge replies that he is right also. The point being that everyone can be right and disagree. What a novel concept, one that is sure to leave the extremists on both sides very unhappy.