When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006)

Spike Lee put his all into this documentary about Hurricane Katrina and the government's slow response. This disaster will always be remembered by everyone no matter what race, sex, or economic group. I could not believe the job that the Army Corp of Engineers did on the levees over the course of 40 years. Even after Hurricane Betsy, they never finished that job and the residents paid the ultimate price for their negligence. The people did not deserve to be run out of their homes. A lot of them had nowhere to go. I have relatives that were displaced by Katrina. Lee gives an insight on how this has affected there lives during and after the storm hit. Also shown is the economic and social status of New Orleans. Due to this,education and health care are decreasing to the point that residents have relocated to other states for a better chance. Crime was already a big problem there and it seems that it is increasing as everyday goes by. No matter what, New Orleans will remain a top-notch city.

This is appreciated. And I'm glad Spike Lee has put viewers in contact with the horrible Katrina imagery. (I stowed my TV in storage 4 years ago to cut down on the idiocy in my life, so I missed footage of the disaster). But my rental place only had the first and the last dvds in the series. I missed the central 2 hours! But that oversight, sadly, has pointed out the shows problem; extrapolating from the two DVDs I saw, I feel pretty confident that I could guess the general tone, format and points of the missing DVD. It's not a very focused or structured series. I don't feel like I missed anything specific.Lee chose to roll footage of the debris and inundation, which is fine. But I wish someone else (Frontline) would do an expose on who's to blame. Like everyone else, I blame the incompetent Bush and Co. as the main culprits. But Lee keeps blame (and thus any solution) very vague. He really seems to be letting Nagin off the hook here. Even after black homeless refugees cite Nagin as a problem. For any of the Sean Penn haters, Penn was there putting himself out and helping people in danger - What were you doing?

This documentary is a very well put-together film outlining all the details of the Katrina disaster. It was informational, analytical, and moving; my favorite points of a documentary. I was also pleased to see a great deal of political commentary as well.The film may emphasize on the racial issue a little too much for my taste, but the message is clear enough: the Bush administration screwed up, just like they screw everything up. The disaster could have and SHOULD have been handled much better.So overall, great film. I would recommend everyone see this and get some education on the subject, and then can interpret it how they like.

I apologise for stealing another person's point but I will make reference to the review written by Ric-7 and the first point he makes. A requiem is like a lament, a time to reflect and grieve over a loss or event. An autopsy or an enquiry is not a lament but is a clear look at the loss or event to identify the reasons for it. By putting requiem in the title of his film, Lee is making it clear for everyone that the intension is to grieve over that happened rather than deliver a precise factual opinion on what happened. So criticisms that this isn't precise and a tighter affair are unfair.However having said that the film does a great job of providing balance – surprisingly so from Spike Lee, who I expected to play the race card, play everything up and point fingers in a one-sided diatribe. It could not have been further from the truth though because the film is actually pretty balanced. Of course there is an inevitable slant towards how terrible this whole shooting match was and is but then that is more to do with the fact that the whole event was terrible in all sorts of ways rather than the makers over-egging the cake. Set out in four acts the film deals with the build up and hitting of Katrina in act 1; the aftermath and response of the authorities in act 2; the human fall out as the evacuees try to cope in act 3 and finally the attempts to clear the city and look back in act 4.Watching it is a difficult experience. This is not because of the running time though, because it is so consistently engaging that I found my intentions to watch it in four parts turned into one sitting that seemed a lot shorter than it was. No, it is a difficult experience because of the emotions that hit you throughout. The loss of those caught up is well painted and several contributions had me crying although the film doesn't let us accept all of the victims as blameless and does feature people stating that they chose to stay. Of course the majority were expected to pick up their poverty and head across America to wherever and this makes up the secondary emotional hit. The film does show the things we know about – Bush's administration apparent lack of interest, the mess with FEMA and so on but it doesn't dwell on it that much and it doesn't get into finger pointing much beyond this – again we know this already and I doubt anyone looks at Bush's role in the aftermath and views him with anything other than embarrassment. For this reason it is also nice to be reminded of Barbara Bush's comment that many of the victims were better off living in a sports arena in Texas – I would laugh if I hadn't been sickened.However the film follows this with two acts on the wider aftermath and the pain continues. The second half of the series does get a bit slower and "matter of fact" but still remains gripping. It looks at families thrown all over the US; the lack of victim support and the emotional suffering that continued long after the event. The contributors make the film and they are almost always used well. Most people talk from the heart and are engaging as a result. There are plenty of people who make attacks and sweeping statements. The film doesn't just let these stand though and does include retractions and corrections on rumours such as those of children being raped etc. There aren't any contributions that I can think of that don't add much and nobody hogs the screen – the film uses them well.Visually the film looks good in the footage shot by Lee. As much of the first acts is archive footage you don't get that much of an impression of his style but even his framing of his interviews shows his style. His use of music is good and it was a good call to use the title credit music from 25th Hour to open the 3rd act as it makes a good link between the two events. Overall then a fascinating and emotionally impacting review of the Katrina affair. It is surprisingly balanced and held me easily for four hours and stands as a lament for the human suffering and the political forces that simply don't seem willing or able to work it out.