Abortion debate rages on in impartial doc

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 this film tells the other side.

This is an unflinching, sometimes unwatchable documentary that makes such an effective case for both pro-choice and pro-life sides that it is impossible to determine which side the filmmaker, Tony Kaye, stands on. All you can conclude is that both sides have effective advocates, but there are some alarming people among pro-lifers.

One of them is an earnest young man named Paul Hill who says we should execute all abortionists. He doesn't stop there. We should also execute all blasphemers, he says. Later, he murders a Florida doctor who performed abortions. It's one of two murders in the film. Both result in the death penalty.

Pro-lifers consider abortion to be murder, and they are also against birth control and sex education, which have proven in recent years to reduce unplanned pregnancies and therefore abortions.

On behalf of their argument, Hill shows graphic footage of abortions and their consequences. The scene that shook me most deeply has a doctor sorting through a pan of blood, fluid and body parts to be sure he has removed an entire fetus. Tiny hands and feet can clearly be seen.

The sanest voice on the pro-life side is Nat Hentoff, the veteran left-wing Village Voice writer, described as a civil libertarian and an atheist. He argues from a logical, not religious, point of view that when a sperm and an egg unite, a human being is in the process of formation, and the process should not be interrupted.

The film has been a life's work for Kaye, 55, who has been filming it on and off for 17 years. He shoots in 35mm widescreen, using black and white. His film is long (152 minutes) but doesn't seem long because at every moment something absorbing, disturbing or infuriating is happening.

True, he comes down on neither side. But what he shows is how the tradition of freely exchanged ideas has been replaced by entrenched true believers who drown out voices of moderation.

By Roger Ebert / Universal Press Syndicate