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First printed at www.movingpicturesnetwork.com

Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival)

Directed by: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Featuring: “Anne,” Father Tom Euteneuer, “Candace,” “Arnold” and “Widline”

“Precious’s” life and pregnancies were the subjects of a film that premiered at Sundance last year, and which took home both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for only the second time in history. While that film is expected to be one of 10 nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and its actors cited as well, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s film “12th and Delaware” is less representative of a backstory of young lives burdened by heavy choices created from dire situations and is more concerned with the strategies of the war waged between abortion clinics and pro-life centers situated around the country.

While Tony Kaye’s comprehensive “Lake of Fire” raged with macro debate on the topic of abortion a year ago, “12th & Delaware” is made all the more dramatic by its focus on two competing pregnancy-related businesses situated on opposite sides of a street in Fort Pierce, Fla., each a fixed presence in the other’s daily diorama, each a constant reminder of the other’s lack of success.

Case by case, young black, white and Latina girls enter the pro-life Pregnancy Care Center and are confronted by plastic fetuses, ultrasounds focused on little hearts beating, and technicians typing cute messages on print-outs to the potential parents-to-be. The urgency and belief emanating from the pro-lifers’ voices as they plead, “God made you pregnant. It’s not a mistake. We’re here to help you. Please?” is undeniable. And their willingness to provide funds to families to encourage them to proceed through pregnancy seems sincere.

The most sympathetic subject in the film, though, is “Candace” – a matronly figure responsible for the administration and counseling at the abortion clinic. Offering counsel to those in need and advising patients against unsafe sexual practices, Candace’s focus seems to be to serve the needs of those girls and women who need her, and she doesn’t seem to mind if patients change their minds, as long as the consequence is not to place the mother in an intrinsically inequitable position in life going forward.

As they did in their Oscar-nominated “Jesus Camp,” Ewing and Grady keep their opinions, personalities and presence absolutely absent from the documentary, allowing the voices of the subjects to represent both sides of the issues at hand. Unlike “Camp,” however, “12th & Delaware” remains subdued, presenting an overall portrait without the punctuation inherent in its predecessor’s performances and personalities.

Although every bit as much the masterfully made, soulfully scored and professionally photographed effort that “Camp” was, “12th” may suffer with audiences for the absence of entertaining highs and lows and a darker subject matter that doesn’t call out for casual renters. The access and information that the filmmakers received from both sides of the street , and both halves of the debate in this regard , is outstanding.

Luckily, with an airing on HBO slated for summer, audiences nationwide won’t have to wait long to form their own opinions on one of this nation’s most-divisive topics.

Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Festival

Video interview with “12th and Delaware” directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.