Spike Lee's documentary
Hope you got to see parts one and two of Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts on HBO last night. Parts three and four will air tonight at 9 PM. The entire four-part documentary will air again on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at 8 PM.
Although you might expect Spike Lee to have a radical take on it, the documentary is a mostly straight-ahead and artfully produced accounting of what happened to New Orleans and what the people there have to say about it.
There are interviews with politicians and celebrities, but the most compelling oral histories are those of ordinary people. The stories of Times-Picayune journalists, trained in observation and reporting yet overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster, are also fascinating. It is heartbreaking at times, infuriating at others.
The documentary also looks at the failures of political leadership during the initial response. Presumably, parts three and four will explore this aspect of the recovery. Some defenders of the current administration will probably think the documentary sensationalizes these aspects of our government's response. Sadly, the facts speak for themselves. It's hard to further sensationalize the already shocking and scandalous reality of the situation.
But the real story is the effect on the lives of the people of New Orleans during and after the storm. The clips of news coverage used in the film will be familiar to those who have been following the story. For others who only get bits and pieces from the evening news, seeing it all at once could be overwhelming. Seeing the totality of the devastation put in context by the voices of the people who lived through it (and are still struggling to survive) is a powerful and moving experience for anyone. Everyone in America should see this documentary.
Although you might expect Spike Lee to have a radical take on it, the documentary is a mostly straight-ahead and artfully produced accounting of what happened to New Orleans and what the people there have to say about it.
There are interviews with politicians and celebrities, but the most compelling oral histories are those of ordinary people. The stories of Times-Picayune journalists, trained in observation and reporting yet overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster, are also fascinating. It is heartbreaking at times, infuriating at others.
The documentary also looks at the failures of political leadership during the initial response. Presumably, parts three and four will explore this aspect of the recovery. Some defenders of the current administration will probably think the documentary sensationalizes these aspects of our government's response. Sadly, the facts speak for themselves. It's hard to further sensationalize the already shocking and scandalous reality of the situation.
But the real story is the effect on the lives of the people of New Orleans during and after the storm. The clips of news coverage used in the film will be familiar to those who have been following the story. For others who only get bits and pieces from the evening news, seeing it all at once could be overwhelming. Seeing the totality of the devastation put in context by the voices of the people who lived through it (and are still struggling to survive) is a powerful and moving experience for anyone. Everyone in America should see this documentary.
11 Comments:
I loved it - he's really done a bang up, non-sensationlistic job on this. I love how the chronology and transitioning of the events are told through the interviews - no overdubbing by a commentator and few titles are needed. And yeah, for those who say he is making the administration (be that New Orleans, Louisiana, or Federal) intentionally look bad, they haven't seen the movie - the facts and the people affected speak for themselves. Looking forward to tonight's installment.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am a New Orleanian living in Texas and I am so greatful to hear and see the truth is finally out for the world to view. I too stayed behind to weather the storm in New Orleans east and it feels good to know that my story and others are finally being told.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am a New Orleanian living in Texas and I am so greatful to hear and see the truth is finally out for the world to view. I too stayed behind to weather the storm in New Orleans east and it feels good to know that my story and others are finally being told.
The mainstream media did the people of New Orleans a great disservice by passing raw rumor of what was going on there during and after the storm on as news. Now Spike Lee compounds the injury with more of the same.
Roderic, you do humanity a disservice by being here. Have you seen the movie? Have you no compassion? Reality sucks, doesn't it?
Now Spike Lee compounds the injury with more of the same.
Yeah, like that scene were Terence Blanchard brings his mother back to her home in New Orleans for the first time, and she sees the wreck that was her home. What business did that old crow have crying over having lost everything she owned?
Or that scene where the woman buries her five year old daughter, who drowned and had been missing for months. That was just "raw rumor" and pointless sensationalism.
Hey, maybe that scene where that guy talks about how his father, who'd bought his house with his last $10 after he came home from WWII. He'd paid his mortgage for 30 years and paid his insurance policies for 50 years got $670 for the damages done to his home, which was a total loss. He's in good hands with Allstate, huh?
Or, oh. How about that part where the chief Medical Examiner in Louisiana said that he's even now seven months behind in identifying bodies.
And of course there was that scene where the guy goes home, sees the FEMA cross on his house which indicated there were no bodies inside, and yet he found his mother under the refrigerator. She'd drowned in her own house, and it took over half a year before her body was recovered (and even longer before her death was certified).
Rumors. Rumors. No one is suffering. No one lost anybody. Nobody lost anything. It's all just a dream.
Vote Bush and your problems disappear, right, Roderic?
No one is saying it was not a tragedy. It was a tragedy in all aspects, but the real Tragedy was the local government not forcing people from their homes the day before the storm hit. Or making all of those school buses available for evacuation. Or not allowing Bush to send in the Military before the storm hit. You know, he has to have the Governor's permission to do so right, actually the Governor has to specifically request military aid. Or the Levee Commission of New Orleans spending 2 million dollars on a freaking statue, instead of the levees. How much other Tax money, whether it be local, state or federal was wasted by those morons.
You would think that a city that is under Sea Level would have better plans for the city. I would fire everyone in the city government and start over, can not do any worse.
Anyway, that is my opinion, I am sure I am going to be called a stooge and a hater. I am neither, but oh well. Have at it then.
James, I think those are all excellent and valid points.
I think where the discussion about Spike Lee's documentary gets off track is talking about what he didn't cover.
It seems he was mainly focused on telling the story of the people of New Orleans, and particularly the Lower 9th Ward, in their own words. I don't think he was trying to cover every single aspect of the story.
The "racist" angle isn't there. The people affected happened to be mostly black. In fact, he features white people in his interviews in what are probably disproportionate numbers to the population.
I think a more valid criticism might be some of the gratuitous "celebrity" interviews, which weren't so much slanted (well, I guess some were) as they were distracting without adding much to the story.
James, a couple of other points.
On the buses, there's little doubt that Nagin was ineffective at first, but he had an excuse that mostly holds up, and that is that he evacuated everybody, including the people who would have to get the buses ready and drive them, who also presumably had jobs and the means to get out of town. He also says he got people to high ground, which he did, and they waited there five days for FEMA's help. But the bottom line is that no mayor of any city has the resources or capability to deal with a disaster on this scale. And that includes Guiliani.
On the request for military, Blanco begged Bush for assistance and declaration of a federal emergency days before landfall. I would also direct you to this:
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050901-3843.html
Q General, Jamie McIntyre from CNN. To what extent is this additional assistance you've outlined today a response to a request from the state governors in Louisiana, Mississippi? And if so, can you tell us when specifically you got that request?
GEN. HONORÉ: Yes, sir. The process starts, sir, in this particular event, with a request Friday of last week, as the approximate date for defense coordinating offices to be established in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Those were established in those states over Friday and Saturday.
Q Sir, I'm specifically interested in how soon after the hurricane hit and the extent of the damage became known did the governors request additional assistance above and beyond what they had requested before?
GEN. HONORÉ: Sir, that started to happen on Saturday, as the hurricane was approaching, and was executed with the movement of my headquarters on Sunday to Mississippi, where we established a joint -- JTF headquarters here in Mississippi with a forward cell of the 5th United States Army in Louisiana. And on Sunday we established JTF-Katrina, with myself as the task force commander.
And since that time, we've continued to flow naval air and Army helicopter support and other assets, as requested by the governor, through FEMA. And that is the process, and you know that works. The governor identified a requirement. It goes to FEMA. That requirement is sent to Northern Command, my boss, Admiral Keating, as parallel to General McNeill at Forces Command. And we have started to flow the forces to your region. Over.
"When the Levees Broke" was brilliant--I really can't stand to see actual dead bodies and there were a lot of them, although it was nowhere near as emphasized as it could have been. The dead bodies had to be shown, the people trying to escape and not able to had to be shown, the poor doggy swimming for his life that probably didn't make it had to be shown. The 4 hours plus of the complete failure of the Bush government to do anything meaningful had to be shown.
Spike Lee's series was eye-opening, and New Orleans-based videographers plan to keep the story of Katrina alive.
Over the next few months DeepDish TV and The Opportunity Agenda will be working with a network of New Orleans-based videographers on a multipart video series called Trouble the Water: Recovery and Resistance in New Orleans.
The series will focus on the stories of activists and communities as they do the hard work of rebuilding their city, the policy solutions they are promoting to expand opportunity for all, and the challenges that residents face.
The blog for the series highlights some of the stories that we're working on, as well as stories about the making of the series. Here's the blog site if anyone's interested: http://troublethewater.typepad.com/my_weblog/
New Orleans writer and activist Mayaba Liebenthal is our first blogger and she will write a daily travelogue as she researches for the series by participating in this week’s Gulf region “Hear Me Now listening tour” hosted by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
From August 23 to 30, Mayaba will be riding a bus from city to city – from New Orleans to Mobile, AL, Gulfport and Moss Point, MI, Lafayette and Baton Rouge, LA, talking with communities of color as they rebuild their lives and communities.
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