Rain Without Thunder

In the year 2042 a young college student is arrested with her mother under a new law charging them with 'fetal kidnapping', after flying to Sweden to terminate the girl's pregnancy. The set up might suggest nothing more than a thinly veiled pro-choice propaganda lecture, but the remarkably even-handed approach to a volatile subject helps make it one of the more provocative dramas in quite a while. First-time writer director Gary Bennett set himself a demanding task by designing the film to look like a documentary-in-progress, with the issues set forth through candid interviews with family, friends, lawyers, legislators, and so forth. The challenge was to write talking-head monologues that had to sound unscripted, and direct a cast of recognizable faces to look as unrehearsed as possible. The ominous music cues don't suit the mock-documentary format, and some of the pro-life fundamentalists are a little too unspeakably inhuman, but for the most part the film is a fascinating blend of science fiction with social fact, offering a compelling speculation into an all-too plausible near-future scenario.

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.

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.

RAIN WITHOUT THUNDER (dir. Gary Bennett) The title of the film refers to a quote by Frederick Douglass in which he postulates that to retain freedom without a certain degree of vigilance is like 'rain without thunder'. The Abortion Dilemma is the controversial subject of this rather stolid film. The movie is set in the year 2042, and employs an interview structure in which various 'talking heads' are given time to explore their points of view, and there is no 'action' in the usual sense of the term. We learn through the interviews that in this future, Women's Rights have been seriously eroded, and a tenacious female district attorney is able to apply a new law which allows the mother to be prosecuted for 'kidnapping' the fetus after she has obtained an abortion. However, It would seem to me that if Abortion was so aberrant in this future time, then it would be treated as 'Murder', and the mother would be tried and executed for a capital crime. Although the film touches on numerous interesting points, the lame presentation makes the film almost painful to watch.

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...