Over at Pullquote, the Cinetrix has reminded me of one more movie that fit in with this so-called “Year of the Unplanned Pregnancy” trend: Shoot ‘Em Up. She doesn’t really go into details, though, of how it fits in. So, allow me to elaborate. First off, as far as I recall, the pregnancy isn’t actually unplanned. But no matter, I’m going to have fun with this anyway. So, let’s pretend that Shoot ‘Em Up is a pro-life movie. Despite the fact that the baby in the film is already born, there’s a bad guy trying to kill it. Let’s call him the abortionist (aka the pro-choicer). Then there’s a do-gooder hero who aims to keep the baby alive. Let’s call him the pro-lifer. Guess who wins out in the end? And you thought the movie was just a silly take on the gun control issue. There’s political topics all over the place!

As you can probably tell, I’m being a bit ridiculous. But sometimes it’s important to get absurd when you’re dealing with too many serious people out there, and too many year-end labels and summaries. Yes, there were surprisingly a lot of preggers movies out in 2007 (Waitress, Knocked Up, Juno), but there’s much more to mention than simply lumping those similarly themed movies together and clapping your hands and saying “yeah!” The more significant thing to address is how these movies and others this year provided balanced discussion fodder for the abortion issue. Each of those unplanned pregnancy comedies could be interpreted as being pro-life, yet each could also be interpreted as being pro-choice (don’t forget, choice can also mean choosing not to abort).

This week I finally saw this year’s Cannes winner, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, another unplanned pregnancy movie, which goes in the other direction from those American comedies by having its would-be mother procure an illegal abortion. Despite the difference in follow through, the film could also be viewed as pro-life or pro-choice, depending on the viewer’s perspective. Finally, this year also saw the release of Tony Kaye’s abortion documentary Lake of Fire, which was praised for allowing both sides of the issue to equally present their arguments.

In a way, it’s annoying for everyone to talk about the unplanned pregnancy trend in cinema this year, but there’s also good reason to acknowledge it. While attempting to find reviews of any of the above films that argued the favoring of one or the other side of the issue, I came across this noteworthy conclusion to a Christian critique of 4 Months:

So is 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days a pro-life film, then? Not necessarily. But Mungiu’s film is an honest, bracing, compassionate, unflinching work of art, and quite possibly an even more balanced treatment of its subject matter than Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake, which was set in post-war England. It would be an excellent place to begin a dialogue on the subject.

Sure, none of these films will unite liberals and conservatives on any issue, not like that Taxi to the Dark Side poster ordeal, but at least they’ve brought them together in a darkened room where people can feel like they’re not someone’s enemy for two hours.