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Boy, this writer loves a good, deep, sticky documentary, and in Lake of Fire, he found one that rivals the best of them. This one’s the real deal.

This ain’t your mama’s PBS nonfiction programme. Lake of Fire is one of the more tempestuous, emotional and multi-faceted documentaries I’ve ever come across, and in addition to being positively riveted by the film at every turn, I found myself finding a disdain for the documentary-association publications which all but ignored the film during awards season last year. I only saw two of the nominated docs at the Oscars this year, so perhaps the ones I haven’t yet caught rival Lake of Fire in breadth and accomplishment. But the thing about Tony Kaye’s brilliant dissection of the abortion issue in America is how it refuses – no, it rejects – any idea of easy thematic encapsulation.

I used the word ‘sticky’ before, and I think that’s Lake of Fire’s grandest asset, aesthetically speaking. There are critics who have given the moniker of ‘definitive’ to the film, and I think that’s neither appropriate nor true. While Kaye uses heaps of footage and wide-ranging interview subjects to pepper the landscape of his treatise on the subject with intriguingly varied perspectives, I think it’s not a far cry to say the film isn’t ‘morally ambiguous’ in its philosophy.

But what the film accomplishes – especially in its final third – is a terrifying sense of rip-cord, sobering epiphany. Let me see if I can explain this:

I’m a San Franciscan, and as most know, nearly every San Franciscan is notorious for thinking they know more about everything than anyone else (gorgeous weather and pomposity are two of our grandest assets). Yet when I visited Atlanta and Georgia this past weekend, I found it both refreshing and somewhat terrifying to realize that other parts of the country operate by different syntaxes than SF’s. In essence, while I was a stranger in a strange land, I was quietly (and almost embarrassingly) concerned that perhaps I didn’t know everything about how folks are supposed to live their lives.

In Lake of Fire, a similar (and wildly amplified) juxtaposition is explored. Kaye finds an interview subject – a woman who is going in to have an abortion procedure – who is able to funnel all the pros and cons of the abortion debate into one shaky, exceptionally vulnerable ball. To watch this woman enter the clinic with her mind made up, her politics strong, her wherewithal intact only to be privy to her unraveling as the theoretical ends of her decision turn into a cold, sterile reality is hands-down the most chilling sequence of filmmaking I’ve seen in a while.

With this interview subject, Tony Kaye not only gets a chance to put a face on the controversies of the issue – he so deftly utilizes the sequence that it transcends the pros and cons of the situation and becomes a far more vague, far more galactic of a scenario. It’s not exactly enough to change everyone’s minds on the issue – if you go into Lake of Fire as a pro-choice person, you’re likely to come out of it that way (and vice versa). But for a handful of singular, exceptional moments, Tony Kaye pulls off a wondrous hat trick: he convinces stubborn, holier-than-thou folks (not unlike your faithful reviewer here) that while knowledge is power, sometimes it’s not enough. And for open-minded doc lovers, Lake of Fire is one of rare film experiences – it is hard to watch, it is slippery, it is hard to pin down: It’s sticky.

And it’s also one of the more intriguing documentaries you’re likely to see.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Lake of Fire looks exceptional in this 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Relying mostly on 35mm film, but sometimes choosing camcorder or found footage, the film’s visual presence is astounding. Clarity is spot-on – the images are gorgeously rendered and razor-clean – and black levels are deliciously robust and thorough. There are no examples of dirt or grime on the transfer print, either, and fine detail quality comes across excellently. Superb.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Lake of Fire is a documentary, so the you-are-there immediacy of the film is replicated in its simple yet accomplished stereo sound mix. Dialogue comes through nicely most of the time, and the film’s wonderful score gets a punchy placement in the mix. The long and short of it is that the film sounds as it should, and is presented on this DVD with finesse.

English SDH subtitles are included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

All we get are some trailers.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.