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Aug. 30, 2006 Spike Lee’s HBO documentary “When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts,” is the most poignant journey he has ever taken. The work covers the events of Hurricane Katrina from the time the storm was seen as a threat (five days before it struck land), to the efforts to rebuild “The Crescent City and all of the hullabaloo in between. It examines the roles of key players who failed the residents of that city, from New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, President George W. Bush and his handpicked choice for FEMA director, Mike Brown. The breach in the levees resulted in 1,300 deaths and the displacement of nearly a half million residents, of which only 230,000 have returned. In an interview on National Public Radio, Lee pointed out, "What's happened down there is unprecedented. This country has forever been going to the far corners of the earth to help other people in need... When this occurred here on U.S. soil, this government turned its back on its own citizens." A cinematic work that I can compare “Levees” to is John Ford’s 1940 classoc, “The Grapes of Wrath.” There is a strong sense of urgency and emotional punch in both films, only Lee’s isn’t a fictionalized piece and if there is a protagonist, it is not an individual like “Grapes’” Tom Joad, but the collection of New Orleans residents who boldly state their viewpoints. Much like his 1997 documentary “Four Little Girls” (which focused on a fatal church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama and its aftermath), this is not a pro-black, or Bush-bashing diatribe. This is a brutally frank presentation of the miscommunication and malfeasance that took place during the greatest natural disaster to occur on American soil. In his typically no-holds-barred fashion, Lee captures the anger and confusion of both black and white New Orleanians. The story unfolds in four emotionally-charged acts, each an hour in duration. The opening segment of part two (Act III) contains a graphic montage of bloated corpses mired in muddy front yards, and the rancid waters of the flooded lower 9th ward. Another moving scene takes us inside a house where a news crew is filming young children who reiterate, “Mama needs oxygen.” Unbeknownst to the children, their mother is dead. The film crew then removes the children from the home. The film consists of tearful and oftentimes angry interviews with local victims, sit-downs with politicians and celebrities, and is inter-cut with news footage and expert opinion. It all serves to unveil the complexity and total breakdown in communication during and after the flood. Along the way some ugly truths are revealed, such as the Army Corps of Engineers 6,000 page report that finds that the event was not caused by nature, but “the work of humans.” More precisely, the 170 miles of damage done to the levees was due to “bad work,” which made the levees “A system in name only.” The movie does touch on race, but by raising serious questions, such as why were blacks who were taking food and necessities labeled “looters”? More telling, why were the people of new Orleans dubbed “refugees” by the media? Why were evacuees only given one-way tickets out of New Orleans? How could the U.S. provide Tsunami victims aid inside of two days while poor people in New Orleans suffered for more than five days? Were the levees bombed (as they were in 1927 and 1965) in order to protect white interests? Why were VP Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice absent as this turmoil was taking place”? (Rice was chastised by a white woman for shopping for shoes when the turmoil at the Superdome was taking place); an angry white citizen was caught on camera telling Dick Cheney “Go F—l yourself!” The film includes interviews with Kanye West regarding his “Bush hates black” people remark, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (who comes off as “cartoonish” and someone who is in over his head), actor/director Sean Penn, New Orleans officials and native celebrities like Aaron Neville, and Wynton and Brandford Marsalis. These men have set up foundations that build new homes for displaced New Orleanians. If there is a “star” of this film, it is Crescent City native Phyllis Montana LeBlanc. Her salty, shoot-from-the-hip rants do not come off as vulgar, but are the cries of a woman who hurts deeply after being lied to by everyone from social workers to those “managing” the situation at the Superdome. This is Lee’s crowning achievement. The images and the emotion they conjure up makes “Four Little Girls” look like a Marx-brothers film. Also of note, the soundtrack (featuring Terrence Blanchard) sets a melancholy tone for what is the most powerful and relevant piece of filmmaking I’ve seen. ------------ About the author: Timothy N. Stelly, Sr. is a 46-year old poet, novelist and aspiring screenwriter who resides in northern California with his three youngest children--Lawrence, Kimberly and Dante. He is a member of various writer's groups and has three novels in print, his most recent, "Like A Straight-Up Sucka," is available at www.lulu.com. website: http://stellbreadO@tripod.com Email: stellbread@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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