If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010)

I was working at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston in the days after Katrina, which is where the government sent the NOLA people once Reliant Stadium filled up. I've lived in Houston for over 30 years and am a longtime member of Second Baptist Church, which was mentioned in the documentary.Yes, Louisiana suffered cataclysmic damage from Katrina and the surge. No one is denying that. But it has been five years now, and many of the people in this documentary still haven't gotten their lives back together. I realize many of them are poor and never had much to begin with, but the constant finger pointing and complaining about the government is tiresome and simplistic. I know plenty of people who lost everything in the storm. They came to Houston, got jobs, got their kids in school, and started over. And these aren't rich people. If they could do it, why can't these "activists" and "poets" do it? I'll tell you why. Being a "Katrina survivor" is now their job. If they had gotten on with their lives, they wouldn't be featured in documentaries and have a soapbox on which to cry about racism.And in this documentary, even those who have gone on with their lives still complain. The two sisters who now live in Humble, a suburb north of Houston, talk about how the autistic son of one of them receives a far superior education here than he ever did in NOLA. But then the other sister, the one without the son, talks about how she "hates Texas" and "no one lives out here where we do." I strongly suspect that when she says "no one," she means "no one from New Orleans." They now live in a very nice neighborhood in a lovely brick home. Talk about ungrateful! Perhaps if she stopped going around telling everyone how much she hates Texas and sporting such a bad attitude, she might make a few friends. Just a thought.The venom aimed at the federal government is misplaced, too. Did the government do a good job dealing with the situation? Hell, no. But the LOCAL and STATE authorities were the immediate culprits. Nagin refused to use available buses to move people out of harm's way; Blanco spent her time worrying about what she was going to wear on-camera rather than enacting a mandatory evacuation; Landrieu sat around in D.C. and did nothing, then used Katrina as an excuse to get hundreds of millions for pork barrel projects rather than using it to help those who needed it.The documentary spends a lot of time castigating Haley Barbour for using his connections to secure money for Mississippi in the aftermath. Perhaps if the politicians in Louisiana had spent less time complaining about everything and more time working the system, they would have gotten more help. If you slap someone with one hand while holding out the other for money, don't be surprised if you come up empty. Not only that, but much of the money that was funneled to NOLA was wasted on special projects and lined people's pockets. They mishandled the federal aid they received, but that doesn't stop them from whining for more.In other words, no new ground was covered here. It's all been said before, ad nauseum. Those who refuse to move on continue to blame the government and racism for all of their problems, and Spike Lee eagerly gives them a way to spread their hate.

When the Levees Broke is going to be viewed as one of the great documentaries so I was eager to watch this one. Unlike many people I have enjoyed Spike Lee's films over the years. I don't always agree with him but he is one of the few American directors today doing anything though provoking.His segments on BP were really the strongest and most compelling. He probably could have done a two or three part film: one documenting police corruption in NOLA which was legendary prior to Katrina and one about the BP disaster which taught us that when a mega corp screws up we really are impotent. I think he over stretched on Haiti. That could have also been another documentary. Spike Lee is a man with a point of view but he lets his subjects speak for themselves and weirdly enough I found Micheal Brown less the villain than I would have thought. Of course he was self justifying. Wouldn't we all in his position.Worth watching. Kudos to HBO for even slapping documentaries on during prime time.

The only reason why I put up with Spike Lee for 4 hours was because I wanted to watch an educational film about New Orleans. I currently live in the area and wanted to get a perspective for what the natives went through when Katrina descended.Spike Lee had the potential to make his best docu-film ever. There is plenty of material to draw from here. Instead he turns this film into a mostly black film. Blacks and the occasional whites aren't the only people who live here though I realize that they make a sizable majority. The segment on the Vietnamese was too short and there was no mention of the Hispanics who helped rebuild the city. Lee failed to mention how some blacks would target Hispanics because they carry cash on them and were scared to call the cops on them due to their immigration status. NOLA also has a Muslim and Middle Eastern community. This isn't counting other ethnic and religious communities. Poor blacks weren't the only people affected by the storm, but it makes for great ratings. His myopia and ethnocentrism is mind boggling. I can't believe he made it this far.I am not a conservative, but the liberal bias in the film is over the top. The poor and pitiful portrayal that many segments of the black community received is highly inaccurate and makes them look impotent waiting for the government to rescue them. It inadvertently perpetuates stereotypes of them and the liberal whites who pity them and carry a guilt complex that they need to cleanse every time they help them. I know that the Feds provided a poor response and that is reprehensible. I also take issue with MS receiving a greater share of funds. I think that NOLA's reputation precedes it. NOLA has always been a city of strong contrasts in class, society and race. The recovery since the storm has only made this more apparent. The recovery post-Katrina has brought out many inadequacies that need to be fixed. After the worst of the storm passed the people could have been more proactive and helped each other more. Instead the corruption that NOLA is known for came back.I believe that an effective documentary gives both sides air time. This is what documentaries are about. If you want to make a film all about your ideas you should make a movie.I'm glad I wasn't the only wondering what the hell was a foot fetish guy talking about finding a woman with a house (aka freeloading freak) doing in a documentary.I wish he would have put a segment on the animals left behind who died in the storm and the ones who starved after-wards.I think the Haiti segment was perhaps a metaphor for how blacks always get the shaft, even from Mother Nature. Tragedies happen to all of us, but how we handle them is what defines us. We don't allow tragedy to make us.The oil spill segment was better. That is truly tragic for all living being, especially the animals who cannot speak for themselves. I found the BP poetry segment pretty cool, Bitch Please! I liked the poetic, musical and football segments as they gave levity to the film. Maybe Spike Lee should have used his artistic insights to make a fun Katrina film.

I don't understand why this has such a low rating on here.I'm a New Orleans resident, though I wasn't at the time, my fiancé was. We married in 2006. It was devastating for all the people who lived through it. Yes, there are a few things I don't get. Like why the heck did he put anything about Haiti on there? It only deserved maybe 30 seconds to show that the United States govt had a better and quicker reaction to Haiti than it did to its own people, not 10-15 minutes. Yes, Haiti was worse. But so what. The point is that the US Gvt reaction should have been better toward its own people. This country is supposed to be the greatest nation on earth. It isn't. Its own ideology is its own worst enemy. The whole reason for govt to exist is to deal with situations like what happened in New Orleans but when the govt's hands are tied, people die. Have to say, I'm more convinced than ever due to this film that placing the whole blame on Bush and his regime is the right thing to do.I also have to say that it was so emotionally jarring that I had to watch it in two parts and several days apart. Its like being put through the ringer.