Hollywood producer steps outside job to create topical thriller

Hollywood producer steps outside job to create topical thriller
‘A Distant Thunder’ provides a charged-up look at legacy of partial-birth abortion

By Lori Arnold

BURBANK, Calif. — As a filmmaker and Hollywood producer, Jonathan Flora is more than familiar with the violence, gore and sexuality that often emanates from script to screen.

It still didn’t prepare him, though, for the personal horror he felt when he learned about a late-term abortion procedure known as partial birth.

“As my faith has grown and I became a family man, I took more interest in it,” he said from his office, where he is a supervising producer for a major Hollywood studio.

“The first time I read about partial-birth abortion I was in disbelief. I couldn’t believe that was true. The more I researched it, the more I discovered it was true.”

Officially called Dilation & Extraction or D&X the procedure—most often performed during the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy, sometimes later—requires that the doctor use forceps, then his hands, to deliver the baby until only the head remains in the canal. Just inches from its first breath, life is terminated by using scissors to puncture the skill near the stem cell. A tube is inserted and the brain is removed by suction, causing the head to collapse. The dead infant is then pulled from the birth canal.

Not content to digest his disgust, Flora used his creative juices to craft “A Distant Thunder,” a short film highlighting the practice. In addition to writing the script, Flora serves as director. The Kip Perry film was produced by Robin Renee Wood.

“I had to use whatever ability I had to bring this story out,” Flora said.

The result is an independent 35-minute thriller that explores the issue in the backdrop of a courtroom. He chose the shortened length in hopes of getting lawmakers to review the project—and respond.

“I didn’t want to make a documentary or an agenda-driven film or try to hit the audience over the head with a baseball bat,” he said. “I’m a storyteller.”

Loathing to call it a documentary, Flora said he was trying instead to create an informational tool that could change the American psyche about the practice, which is shunned by a majority of adults, but has found support among hard-line pro-choice advocates and judges.

“I wanted an interesting story, something that was thought-provoking and educational at the same time,” he said.

“We are trying to invite people to the table to talk about this. If we back them into a corner or make them defensive, we’re not going to get anywhere like that.”

Seeking action
In the process he hopes the film will motivate Americans to challenge ongoing efforts to squelch partial-birth abortion bans. The federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is in limbo while critics of the ban challenge its constitutionality. In July, a federal court of appeals upheld an earlier decision saying the measure was unconstitutional because there was no health exemption for mothers. Challenges have also been filed in California and New York and the issue is eventually expected to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We can’t just sit in our little rooms or homes and say (partial-birth abortion) is bad and not do something about it,” the filmmaker said.

Although the consumer DVD’s are still a few weeks from distribution, Flora said he’s already had an opportunity to show the film to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senator Rick Santorum, R-Penn. and U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, an Ohio Republican and other congressional aides.

“They were so grateful, and telling us what an answer to prayer this was,” Flora said, adding that a congressional screening is planned for the fall.

First Family Church in Overland Park, Kan. was also scheduled to show the film Aug. 28 as well as a companion 30-minute program that includes music and the spoken Word. Preliminary plans include establishing support groups at First Family. Study guides are being developed to assist churches in follow-up discussions.

“This is going to uncover some deep things,” Flora said.

Although not produced as a “Christian film,” the filmmaker said Christian audiences are a core target group for the project. It was recently showcased at the Christian Booksellers Association convention.

“We’re really encouraged because people are trying to get this in the pipeline,” he said.

Exposure sought
Although shown at two film festivals, the project has been rejected at the nation’s most prominent festivals. The film’s subject matter, Flora said, was cited in the rejections.

“I take that as confirmation that we are hitting a nerve,” the director said.

Flora said the purpose of seeking festival entries is not self-promotion, but wider exposure.

“It’s really about getting the message out there in front of as many people as possible,” he said. “The idea that we even have to debate this is heart breaking in itself.”

Flora acknowledges that taking on the project could come at a significant professional cost. His stand is not popular within the ranks of Hollywood. As a result, he’s been careful to promote the film outside of his studio job.

“I’m not Mel Gibson,” he said. “I know the risk he ran. I’m not the marquee name he is.”

Still, Flora said he is confident about his decision to buck an industry that tends to be more liberal than most of its consumers.

“I’d run a greater risk if I didn’t do this movie,” he said.

Registration for the DVDs are being accepted online at adistantthunder.com.

‘A Distant Thunder’ up close
“A Distant Thunder,” not to be confused with 1988’s “Distant Thunder,” a post-Vietnam melodrama starring John Lithgow, is intense and at times unsettling, although much of the uncertainty is nicely wrapped up in the suspenseful ending.

The story, which features Flora’s wife Deborah in the lead, involves a murder case brought about by a partial-birth abortion gone tragically bad. By design, the graphic procedure is movingly detailed through a courtroom witness and is not shown on screen. Director Jonathan Flora, seeking to motivate the viewer, wanted them to develop their own mental image of the procedure.

The plot was also carefully crafted to portray the irreversible, long-term repercussions of abortion.

“I want to plant a seed that when you abort a baby, you are aborting a baby that would have had a life,” Flora said. “Who knows what could have been?”

Flora is hoping that couples will view the movie with their teen-age children and at least one Catholic school has indicated it would include the film in its curriculum.

Because of the subject matter and the intensity of the thriller, it is recommended that parents view the film before showing it to their children, to determine its suitability.

Flora is hoping parents do use it as a tool in an effort to stop a practice he finds morally and ethically corrupt.

“I really believe there is a storm coming and it’s going to be based on the decisions we make,” he said. “If we don’t make the right decisions, the storm is going to come and it’s going to be bad.”

Published, September 2005

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