Spike focuses his lens on Katrina
JC
HBO watchers, check out Spike Lee’s new documentary on the Katrina disaster, When the Levees Broke: a Requiem in Four Acts on HBO tonight and Tuesday night at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time.
A powerful chorus of witnesses and talking heads that cuts across racial and class lines was assembled for the four-hour film, to be shown tonight and tomorrow on HBO in two-hour blocks. Although seeds of hope are woven into this tapestry of rage, sorrow and disbelief, the inability of government at almost every level to act quickly and decisively leaves you aghast at what amounts to a collective failure of will.
Most of the events in the first two hours will be familiar to anyone who watched television news in the disaster’s early weeks. It is in the last two parts — which examine the uncertain futures of tens of thousands of evacuees, analyze the engineering failures that allowed the flood to breach the levees, and speculate about the city’s future — that the movie rises to greatness.
dcase wrote:
The first installment was very interesting and compelling. It was nice to see Lee just let people tell their stories and give their view sans narrator to direct viewers’ thoughts. Moreover, there was a nice mix of residents and experts (and plenty of Soledad O’Brien) discussing many of the issues surrounding the disaster. However, I had to turn the channel at the end; the sight of those dead bodies reminded me why I never went into the medical field.
On another note, I can’t believe Ray Nagin was reelected; he must have some powerful friends. At times he was embarassing.
Posted 22 Aug 2006 at 7:01 am ¶
gatamala wrote:
@ dcase
Yessss he does. He was exec (I think) VP of Cox Communications (cable)down in LA. A significant portion of his constituency includes whites & business interests.
The bodies broke my heart.
The vile rumors and racist innuendo trumpeted by mainstream media virtually obliterated the compassion, selflessness and loyalty shown by this largely Black, largely poor population. Did people not notice that the elderly and/or infirm were floated, carried and cared for by family and friends??? (I guess it’s easier to focus on stealing DVDs than on the fact that most of those who look down their nose stick their granny in a home.) Did people not see the courageous older children take charge and look out for their baby siblings?? Did people not notice that poor/Black people love their dogs & cats too?? Did anybody question why a population surrounded by water has a significant amount of people who don’t swim??? (FYI, “whites only” & no swimming pools). A hell of lot of criticism is heaped on Black families, but did anybody notice that nobody wanted to leave relatives that couldn’t evacuate? Did anybody notice how these people are attached to their home and what little land they own?
I lived in NOLA 3 years and have to psych myself up to go back. The city is unrecognizable w/o the people & the life.
America is in a very bad place. Where are we if our leadership can’t function before/during/after an annual natural phenomenon that obviously will be fed by the Gulf and destroy a city that is largely below sea level?
Katrina was not a surprise. Flooding was not a surprise. I am disgusted that a society so obssessed with the illusions of merit and accountability, could be utterly incompetent and shameless.
That incompetence grows exponentially when you factor in government corruption, reticence, apathy and downright cruelty (remember the state reps hootin’ & hollerin’ about god did what we couldn’t?).
If ever there was any proof that the US is NOT a christian country, Katrina is it.
…I dare someone to say “this wasn’t about race…it’s class”…
Posted 22 Aug 2006 at 3:48 pm ¶
Ann wrote:
Gatamala.
Thank you for your beautiful response.
As long as America keeps on perpetuating her hatred and callous disrepect towards her black citizens, she will continue to heap curses on herself.
Egypt was not the first nation to have plagues visited upon her.
And America’s turn is coming. Retribution karma can be very savage in all that it leaves in its wake.
And payback’s a bitch.
Posted 23 Aug 2006 at 8:08 pm ¶