my Movie

Movie Details

Title:   When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
Director:   Spike Lee
Year:   2006
Genre:   Documentary
Times Seen:   1
Last Seen:   09.06.06

Other Movies Seen By This Director (7)
- BlacKkKlansman
- Da 5 Bloods
- David Byrne's American Utopia
- Inside Man
- Jim Brown All American
- Oldboy
- Summer of Sam

Notes History
Date Viewed Venue Note
09.06.06DVR It seems a bit too painfully ironic to summarize a massive 4-hour documentary from Spike Lee in one word: depressing. I'll throw frustrating, angering, and disheartening in there too but then it's only one word per hour. I suppose I should say a little more.

This tells the story from just before hurrican Katrina hit New Orleans to about 9 months afterward. The first hour was pretty much just about the storm itself, then the next three hours slowly slide into anti-fema and anti-bush propaganda. Good for it too... because one thing Spike does well is bring his message across in a vividly emotional way... and there are some pretty great interviews in here with colorful characters that wear their hearts on their shirtsleeves (or whatever the saying is). These people are still mad and for pretty good reason too.

I don't really follow the news that closely at all, so I really don't remember exactly when the media deemed katrina bad ratings, but somewhere along the way i think the whole city just got swept under the rug and Spike wanted to bring it back. I think the only thing more ridiculous than not being able to carry liquids on a plane is knowing that six or eight months from now everything will be back to normal. We're almost like a whole country filled with people suffering short term memory loss... and wether it's the dog or the tail, i think the media is a huge contributor to that. So I'm glad this is coming out now and its so overt in its criticism... If you believe what the people in the movie are saying, there's a big job in New Orleans that still isn't done... and it's Bush's fault.

whatever. As a movie it's pretty gripping and those four words I mentioned above. I especially liked the Wire actor saying there's a special circle in hell for Insurance companies.