Kenneth Del Vecchio #fundie

Kenneth Del Vecchio #fundie tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com

Kenneth Del Vecchio, a Republican candidate for New Jersey state Senate and a producer of conservative-themed films, is premiering a psychological thriller this weekend with a pro-life twist: Three pregnant women, who intend to have abortions, are kidnapped and forced to carry their pregnancies to term.

The movie, called "The Life Zone," was produced by Del Vecchio's "Justice For All Productions," and is premiering Saturday at the Hoboken Film Festival in Teaneck, N.J. A press release describes the festival as "one of the nation's largest film festivals, which Del Vecchio founded and chairs."

From the release:

The controversial premise of THE LIFE ZONE: three women have been kidnapped from abortion clinics and are being held for seven months--until they all give birth. The film, which appears to cut right down the middle, examining the topic from both sides, offers a powerful, anti-abortion climactic twist.

85 comments

old comment by Brain_In_A_Jar

I read the synopsis, LC - these people are plainly sick. If the book of revelation were created today, it'd probably look an awful lot like this film: It's a twisted, myopic, obsessive fantasy of insanely cruel supernatural revenge on one's ideological opponents, probably borne of intense frustration at being impotent in attacking, or often even being noticed (nothing drives people like this into a fuming rage like having their demands ignored altogether), by them in real life.

I believe most mentally balanced, socially developed adults stop going on fantasy revenge benders like this somewhere in early to mid adolescence. Religions like Christianity, that effectively tell people that eventually their fantastical, unrestrained orgy of revenge on all the bad people will actually happen, are plainly a barrier to this aspect of human development.

old comment by Brendan Rizzo

I don't oppose this. Freedom of expression, and all. He should be allowed to express his views. That being said, if he's as conservative as he seems, I'm not gonna vote for him. He lives in my state... most people from New Jersey aren't like this!

EDIT: So I checked it out, and dayum, it's worse than I thought. I don't like abortion either, and if it weren't for the crazies I'd call myself pro-life, but even I noticed the Moral Dissonance involved here. Del Vecchio did not know what he was doing. I understand that there would be no movie if there was no kidnapping, but in that case you can't portray the kidnappers as anything better than antiheroes at best... and that's assuming that you take their side. Unfortunately, the most adamantly pro-choice character is a strawman and there is latent sexism in here. I could take this premise and write a better story than this; only a few things need actually be changed, but as it stands this is hamfisted and Anvilicious.

old comment by Anon-e-moose

"Bruce Almighty"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Almighty"

Budget $81 million
Gross revenue $484,592,874

In terms of dollar-for-dollar investment-return, making it one of the biggest grossing comedy films of all time. There was a pseudo-'sequel'/spinoff made:

"Evan Almighty"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Almighty

Budget $200 million
Gross revenue $173,418,781

It became - dollar-for-dollar return-wise, the biggest comedy flop of all time. One reason why, as critics have said, is that - unlike the first with Jim Carrey - it essentially shovelled the Biblical theme down the throats of it's viewers. Whereas, if anything, the Jim Carrey film was an intriguing & intelligently humourous 'What If...?' scenario: what if you were God? With little to no overtly religious content whatsoever.

The "Harry Potter" films:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_%28film_series%29

Budget Total (7 films):
$1,280,000,000
Gross revenue Total (7 films):
$6,343,865,842

Warner Bros, in buying the film rights from JK Rowling, made a wise investment. That studios' shareholders will be very happy. As of course is Ms. Rowling. And the last (half-)film has yet to be released; including potential DVD/Blu-Ray sales.

As opposed to, say, "Left Behind: The Movie":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind:_The_Movie

Budget $4,000,000
Gross revenue $4,224,065

Moral: Sex sells. Fantasy sells. Religion doesn't. You do the maths, Kenny-boy.

But hey, it's your money. If you want to throw it away - a la "Left Behind" - you go right ahead. Only - if you're using mainly funding from other investors - you've got a lot of explaining to do to said others, if this film of yours bombs worse than the Hindenburg. Then I think you'll find that these people worship Mammon more than God. To say nothing of their lawyers, nay, the debt recovery agencies they'll hire.

Hopefully, you'll realise that only one thing matters in film-making: Money. Only the likes of Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Guillermo del Toro - and especially James Cameron - can afford to be auteurs these days. So unless "The Life Zone" is bigger than "Avatar", your film will itself become a box-office, nay, a critical abortion.

old comment by Passerby

Examining the topic from both sides, but holding a strong anti-abortion message?

That's Fox News fair and balanced.

Unless one pregnancy ends with fatal complications, and another ends in a broken home where the mother is shunned by her family with no support from the father or sympathy from her conservative neighbors, but the third realizes she was simply afraid of the responsibilities not knowing how much support and acceptence her family would offer and has a last second change of heart, then this movie will be able to make no such claim.

Unless there is something deeply wrong with you, then abortion isn't the contraceptive afterthought pro-lifers seem to think it is. When the decision isn't driven by medical neccessity it means there is some serious shit going on in the background of the lives of women who opt to abort.

There's also the issue of whoever's kidnapping three women and holding them away from proper medical care during their pregnancy. What happens to them?

old comment by Swede

Why were these women contemplating abortion?
Some women are more or less forced to have an abortion, because the pregnancy is threatening their health and/or their lives.
Some women (or rather girls) are simply way too young to carry the responsibility of raising a kid, which the kid should not be punished for, by having a much too immature mother.

What about the fathers to these embryos? What are they forced to do?
Some women have an abortion because the father-to-be has abandoned ship and left the woman to be a single mother.
The men are allowed to shirk their responsibility, but the women are not? Is that it?

I call bullshit on "examining the topic from both sides". There'll be the anti side and the strawman side only.

Sure, some of the women will end up surviving the pregnancy and the birth, and start loving the kid. But that does not necessarily mean that the kid will have a nice, nurturing and safe childhood.
Really loving someone means wanting the best for that person, and the best might be to turn the child over to adoptive parents.

What about the Life of the women? Why are these people only thinking about the Life of the non-sentient lump of cells with no nervous-system and somewhere around a 20-50 percent chance of surviving the first trimester, but a 50-80 percent chance of ending up as a miscarriage.

old comment by Godbuster

Fuck you pro-life bastards.

You resort to fear-mongering and distorting the truth, don't expect any respect from me.

Oh yeah and the twist is fucking retarded. Straight up a Lost ending, which also ruined the entire series.

We're were all hoping it WASN'T Purgatory, what happens: Purgatory!

BULLSHIT TWIST! BULLSHIT MOVIE! BULLSHIT IDEALISM!

Respect the right to chose, or chose fascism motherfuckers! It really is that simple!

EDIT: I'm all fro freedom of speech, but we have too much bullshit propaganda and not enough useful education. You can't complain to me about freedom of speech if this kind of shit gets popularized while Idiocracy, an eye-opening satire, vanishes due to lack of marketing. They're selling their fascism under the guise of freedom and that is dangerous bullshit! Luckily I can use my freedom of speech to call them out on it and they deserve nothing less.

old comment by Horsefeathers

"Kenneth Del Vecchio, a Republican candidate for New Jersey state Senate and a producer of conservative-themed films, is premiering a psychological thriller this weekend with a pro-life twist: Three pregnant women, who intend to have abortions, are kidnapped and forced to carry their pregnancies to term."

Oooh. Chilling.

I'm sure it will be full of so much suspense that old Hitchcock himself would be jealous.

Either that or it'll be a thinly veiled propaganda piece.

Guess which one I'm betting on.

"The movie, called 'The Life Zone,' was produced by Del Vecchio's 'Justice For All Productions,' and is premiering Saturday at the Hoboken Film Festival in Teaneck, N.J. A press release describes the festival as 'one of the nation's largest film festivals, which Del Vecchio founded and chairs.'"

Couldn't get your schlock screened anywhere else, huh? Well, I guess if nobody else will show your tripe, setting up your own film festival is the way to go.

"he controversial premise of THE LIFE ZONE: three women have been kidnapped from abortion clinics and are being held for seven months--until they all give birth."

And?

Let me guess. You wrote this masterpiece of storytelling yourself also, didn't you?

"The film, which appears to cut right down the middle, examining the topic from both sides, offers a powerful, anti-abortion climactic twist."

Yeah, I'll bet. Just like Expelled "examined the topic from both sides," too.

old comment by Sylvana

Am I the only person who realizes that kidnapping 3 pregnant people is very stressful and would probably result in the spontaneous abortion of their fetuses due to the strain on the body?
Alternatively, what kind of kidnapper leaves the 3 women unrestrained and together? Did the concept of working together to overpower their captives not come up at all?
Even if we take the self-righteous attitude of the pro-lifers kidnapping these women did ti not occur to them that destroying their private, social and work lives by them disappearing for 7 months is also another reason why women have abortions.

Of course this is completely ignoring the utter crap super self righteous surprise ending.(completely missing the irony of sentencing the one woman to hell where she will experience unending pregnancy and birth. If it can be defined as hell, perhaps you can then see why people go for abortions.)

That said, the movie does hold a degree of potential.(I accept that that the move can hold a particularly religious theme so bear with me.) The surprise ending has a degree of a decent twist, however by removing the possibility for redemption from the one woman and the doctor it just becomes your usual Pro-Life hate fest. After all, purgatory is supposed to be a middle ground giving people an infinite time to achieve redemption. Of course, what would also be needed is not to focus on the aspect of giving birth as much as the lives behind the women themselves. They would have to seek redemption in regards of reasons for having the abortion and not just the action. The concept has potential, but with the whole agenda of the inflated egotist writer, director and producer, it is ruined.

old comment by Anon-e-moose

@Passerby

"Examining the topic from both sides, but holding a strong anti-abortion message?"

Rachel Grady & Heidi Ewing, in making their documentary film the way they did, just recording events 'as-is', without narration - and thus be accused of editorialising, and potential 'bias' - Becky Fischer & co. at her 'Kids On Fire School of Ministry'.

Thus "Jesus Camp" - and therefore right-wing Fundamentalist Christianity as a whole - speaks for itself.

I can recommend this to anyone who hasn't seen such yet; certainly to realise the more than infinite evil of fundies. Frankly, 'torture porn' films such as "Saw", "Hostel", and the far eastern films "Audition"* & "I Saw The Devil" are Disney films compared to "Jesus Camp"; indeed, this documentary is infinitely more terrifying. Because what you're seeing is real.

*- I saw that film. Once. Never again. My psyche couldn't handle a 2nd viewing. >_<

old comment by Nightangel

If I was pregnant and someone kidnapped me from an abortion clinic and told me I was going to be forced to carry the baby to term and give birth, I would punch myself in the gut until I miscarried. Nobody's going to fucking well tell me that I HAVE to give birth to a child. My life is hard enough as it is right now without bringing a baby into the picture. Besides, I know one hundred percent that I'd NEVER make a good mother. I just don't have patience with kids. Unless the pro lifer wanted to watch me give birth only to watch me get frustrated taking care of it, and watch me shake the baby to death in rage...

Yeah, no babies for me. I don't need to go to jail for infantcide.

old comment by Anon-e-moose

@Raised by Horses

"@Dan Onymous

"Human Centipede II" is artless rubbish and should not be viewed by anyone."

The BBFC here in the UK have refused a rating for this film, thus it'll never be shown in cinemas - or released on DVD/Blu-Ray (not even via it's 'R-18' rating, for private film clubs; this rating usually reserved for hardcore porn on disc, only available via licenced sex shops).

Oh, no doubt that it'll eventually find it's way here as a cam/disc-rip torrent via The Pirate Bay, but I won't be one who'll be curious enough to download such. I've seen the South Korean film "I Saw The Devil" and the Japanese film "Audition" (only once though, and that was enough for me! >_< ), and even my psyche has it's limits.

@Nightangel

That's precisely what these fundies can't get into their heads: the concept that the only person who has the right to decide is the individual woman herself.

And I don't see no pregnant men around, nor are said 'Pro-Life' fundies - specifically men - fighting over themselves to look after all the unwanted babies in the world.

So no hypocrisy on their part, nosiree. [/hyper-sarcasm]

Kenneth Del Vecchio #fundie tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com

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