Rain Without Thunder

this is a movie everybody who's even remotely interested in abortion should see, especially male persons. the actors are brilliant (I've never seen Jeff Daniels in a movie like this...) and the story is, though filmed with modest means, very compelling, even exciting. the story takes place in a future where abortion is illegal in the USA. a young women who's pregnant goes to sweden in order to abort her baby and gets convicted for her abortion when she goes back to the states. the movie's filmed in an interesting way. it's mostly made of short scenes where the people involved directly or indirectly in the story talk about their experiences and thoughts and what has happened and why they think it has happened to a female reporter.

A pro-choicers nightmare, an anti-choicers wetdream! This is a film for everyone. It's very slow, so if you're looking for explosions, gun fights, car chases, etc, just move on. If however, you don't mind a film that is a fake documentary that makes you think, this is it. As a pro-choice person, it reminds me that the fight will NEVER be over. To the anti-choice, it gives them a happy glimpse into the future they are trying to create. Of course, this won't be good enough for the h4rDk0r3 extremists who think abortionists and women who have abortions should be put to death, but I'm certain they'd still find it entertaining and would enjoy sneering at the comments on womens rights. - This movie made me sad. One of my mothers cousins was unable to ever have children because of a botched illegal abortion she had while young. She is lucky she didn't die... I hope to never return to those days. - YMMV, but I loved it. Of course, I have unusual tastes...

Firstly in 1992, when this film was made, and today, the US has and does give MORE rights to women when it comes to abortion than Sweden does. Yet this bizarre film has the protagonist going to Sweden to get an abortion.

Newsflash: in Europe people LEAVE Sweden to get abortions. today and for decades in Sweden after 18 weeks women cannot have an "at will" abortion, there must be a threat to the woman's health. In the US the average is 20-22 weeks.

This movie could have been an interesting look at the abortion debate, however what you get is a one-sided movie that is meant to provoke paranoia.

The movie over-indulges in perhaps one of my biggest pet peeves -- instead of letting me decide how I feel about a character and their views, it telegraphs what I'm supposed to feel, which is okay when characters are given dimension, however these characters are all pretty one-sided -- the pro-choice characters are portrayed as good but victimized people, while the pro-life side is portrayed as ominous, evil, vindictive and manipulative. No dimensions, no shades of gray, just black and white, pro-choice good and pro-life bad.

Let me add one caveat, I am not pro-life and my feelings on this movie are not based on my feelings about abortion. I would have felt the same if the movie had reversed the roles and made the pro-choice people "evil", much like you see on TBN or the like...

Sure, this film, like "Bob Roberts" and some others I could name, indulges in a bit of preaching-to-the-choir... But, then, one could argue that the drivel they peddle on CBN and those inane Tim LaHaye books do the exact same thing, for the Church Lady Crowd. What's truly scary about this film isn't its absurdity, but rather its plausibility- some of this would doubtless become reality if certain forces and groups in our society had their way. Our modern world is full of examples of once relatively progressive, modern secular states that fell into extreme repression at the hands of religious fanatics. Afghanistan is only the most blatant, recent example. For those who are "pro-life", but maybe haven't thought through the full implications of enshrining their agenda into law, I would think this film raises some pretty pertinent questions, like- would an IUD, which can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg, be considered a "murder weapon"? Will women have to be locked up to insure that they don't commit "crimes" against their fetuses? Just how will the legal apparatus deal with regulating the sex lives and reproductive systems of millions of Americans? It's all well and good to talk about "saving the babies", but these questions will invariably come up if the radical right is able to implement it's plan of making abortion (and, for some "pro-life" groups, all forms of birth control) a crime. Everyone should see this movie. It's not a "liberal's nightmare", it's the nightmare of everyone who doesn't want Big Brother hanging out in their bodies and bedrooms.