180 Documentary

180 is a 2011 documentary produced by an evangelical minister, Ray Comfort. He is the founder of Living Waters, who is the production company for this film (Jennings 4). It is a movie regarding abortion, that takes a pro-life stance, and uses simple reasoning and arguments for this position (Dingess 1). The documentary claims to affect people in such a way that they change their pro-choice stance after one specific and simple argument regarding abortion. In general, the public seems to have enjoyed this documentary. Although, there have been negative reactions as well.
Plot
Beginning with scenes and video footage from the Holocaust, ‘180’ begins by stating that Hitler sanctioned the killing of 11 million people during that time and Holocaust education is now mandatory in schools there. Next, Comfort begins asking an assortment of random young people on the street if they have heard of Adolf Hitler and what they know about him, to which most reply they do not know him or much about what he did. Although, as Comfort speaks with a more broad assortment of people, different views and stances on Hitler arise. Some believe him to be a very bad man while others look up to him and respect him. The general consensus seems to agree that Hitler killed many innocent people, was not a good man, and that the Holocaust was an atrocious evil.
The story moves forward into a time of questioning. Comfort begins asking, “It is 1939, you’ve got a high powered rifle, and Hitler is in your sights, do you take him out?” (180 Movie). Every single person replies that they would.
Comfort continues to drive his point further. He gives a general overview of many of the events that occurred during the Holocaust, including the ways in which people were killed. He speaks of the deep pits that people were put into and buried alive in. He asks the question, “It’s 1943, a German officer is pointing a machine gun at you, and telling you to get in a bulldozer and drive it forward. You look in front of you and there is a big pit. Hundreds of Jewish families have been shot and they are in the pit, many dead, but some are still alive. What do you do? Bury them alive? You know if you say no, he is going to shoot you alive and someone else will do it.” People’s reactions to this question become confusing. Most people state that they could not do this, while others say they would for fear of their own life.
To the people that stated that they would not be able to kill these Jews, or take any human life, Comfort asks: “How do you feel about abortion?” Almost instantly, most people state that it is a woman’s choice and that it is different in every situation. Comfort disagrees and tries to state the contradiction in what they just stated.
One girl in particular stands out. She says she was not sure when life began, to which Comfort replies, “If I was a construction worker and I told you I was about to blow up a building, but that there might be life inside, but I was not sure, so I am just going to blow it up anyway, what would you say to me?” The girl is not sure how to answer.
Comfort moves forward and begins asking, “What justifies killing a baby in a womb?” He does not just address this question, but also many other controversial questions that arise when speaking of abortion, such as what if the fetus is going to have birth defects, or a bad quality of life. The last thing Comfort asks the people to do is finish the sentence, “It is okay to kill a baby in the womb when…” Many people do not have an answer for this. He then asks if they have changed their mind on abortion, which almost each person says that, “Yes.”
The documentary finishes by stating that over 50 million abortions have occurred during what he calls, the “American Holocaust” (180 Movie).

Production
Executive Producers: Ray Comfort and Emeal Zwayne
Producers: Eddie Roman and Mark Spence
Director: Ray Comfort
Editors: Mark Spence and Eddie Roman
Artwork/Animation: Dale Jackson
The documentary ‘180’ was produced by Ray Comfort with the help of his ministry, Living Waters. The entire documentary was released on Sunday, September 18th, 2011. It is available for viewing for free online at .
Impact on Society
The documentary was originally supposed to be a free DVD supplement to a book Comfort wrote, titled, Hitler, God, and the Bible. But, ultimately it ended up becoming an entire pro-life movie. Comfort plans to give over 200,000 copies of this DVD to over 100 college campuses across the United States.
Comfort speaks about his hopes for this DVD by relating it to the ever-popular YouTube video titled, “Charlie bit my finger.” That video has accumulated hundreds of thousands of views, and Comfort hopes ‘180’ will acquire the same, while bringing about a shift in the way people view abortion. It seems to be well on its way, because after just a little over a month, the documentary has been viewed by over a million people (Murashko 4-7).
Reviews
In general, many blogs and articles have been written stating positive reactions to this film. Many of these blogs and articles have been Christian sources. Not every reaction has been positive though. Many have argued that Comfort’s arguments are faulty and abortion cannot be comparable to the Holocaust.

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