When the Levees Broke - A Requiem In Four Acts (Documentary)
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Movie Reviews of When the Levees Broke - A Requiem In Four Acts (Documentary)
Movie Review: Best Documentary I Have Ever Seen
Summary: 5 Stars
When the Levees Broke - A Requiem in Four Acts documentary is one of the most touching documentaries I have ever seen. I have seen many works by Spike Lee but I do believe this is the best I have seen from him directing. I know many people may think they know what happened during Hurricane Katrina but he takes you on a journey through the lives of the victims and their families. Not only does he ask people that were devastated the most in the Ninth Ward but he also gets the inside scoop from the wealthy people living in the French Quarter. I believe he takes a much unbiased approach at filming this documentary. His main focus is to get the facts out in the open and to make people aware of what was going on when neither FEMA nor the President of our country, George W. Bush, were there to respond in an appropriate fashion. What many people do not know is that they were warned that they levees were not strong enough to hold any kind of weather phenomenon like Katrina long before the hurricane struck the coast. No one was there to listen and to respond to what was really needed by the people.
Spike Lee does a great job with incorporating how Mayor Ray Nagin reacted accordingly to the situation his city was placed in. All of the people interviewed for the documentary made you feel as though you were part of their lives. It is truly remarkable the struggles they had to go through during and after Katrina. It is also astonishing to see how people do not realize this effected New Orleans economy and their faith in our government and why. After watching the documentary I found a brand new respect for New Orleans and their culture. I immediately went down to help in whatever way I possible could even though it has been a few years since the hurricane. There is still plenty of work to be done their but it is home to many many people and I know not to take that for granted.
I suggest this documentary to anyone who is ready to be touched and witness how a community comes together in a time of need and maintain faith and each oth
Movie Review: An American Tragedy
Summary: 4 Stars
"When the Levees Broke"
An American Tragedy
Amos Lassen
Hurricanes Katrina changed many lives and ravaged a great American city. As I sat down to watch Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke", many images were still in my mind as I did not evacuate New Orleans until a full week and a day after the storm hit. I so wanted to be able to see what I did not have a chance to while without electricity and stranded on the fourth floor of my building. I watched with my mouth open as New Orleans was being washed away.
Lee's film is made up of four episodes--the coming storm, immediately after, adjusting and the return. Each is mind boggling to watch as the national government fumbles and New Orleanians suffer. Here was a nation that did not know what to do in the time of disaster. The movie broke my heart many times and over and over again. To see the frustration of the people and the ineptitude of the government is just something that is hard to describe.
Spike Lee comes across as the voice of reason and we listen and watch in horror. Lee looks at what happened during Katrina as a conspiracy and he shocks us time and again. He shows how the federal government failed and did so in the name of pure greed. Lee even implies that the levees were bombed so that the black population of the 9th ward of the city would leave and that white contractors would then move in and redevelop the area. Of course, Lee does show partiality to his own.
For those who did not experience Katrina this is a must see and Lee shows it all to us. It is not an easy movie to see but it is an important one.
Movie Review: I only received two of the four Acts
Summary: 2 Stars
Spike Lee did an outstanding job on this documentory, and I felt it was very balanced in its approach. I just wish I had known that I was only going to receive Acts 2 & 3 of the documentory. Other than this discrepancy, it was a great DVD. I love the depiction of our present administration during this crisis, and our President's mother, wow!
Movie Review: Please Give Some Balance
Summary: 1 Stars
I was born and raised in New Orleans. Though I haven't lived there for over thirty-five years, I maintain close family and personal ties there.
My sister lost her home and her life possessions to Katrina. So did two uncles, four aunts, two cousins and their children, and various in-laws and relatives of in-laws. They were all white and middle-class. So much for Spike Lee's poverty and racism thesis.
My sister and a number of relatives lived in the Lakeview section of New Orleans, which is over 95% white and which Katrina thoroughly inundated. Spike Lee interviewed only one family from Lakeview and they were black. My other relatives lived in St. Bernard Parish, largely populated by whites, on the outskirts of New Orleans. Flash floods there attributed to storm surges up MR GO (Mississippi-River Gulf Outlet) left uncountable scenes of houses swept off there foundations and vehicles overturned or embedded/covered in the remains of unidentifiable debris. Spike Lee showed none of this, but he lingered over similar scenes in the iconic Lower 9th Ward to demonstrate the white man's perfidy toward his black brethren, especially by drawing parallels between levees dynamited by white business cliques in the 1927 flood and rumors of explosions heard along the Industrial Canal next to the Lower 9th Ward during the height of Katrina. Instead, he did not once mention that the black political power structure the city has enjoyed for more than thirty years barely lifted a finger to alleviate the awful plight of the poor black population of New Orleans. The mayor, Ray Nagan, and his cronies got a free pass and the white political establishment received all the blame.
The black majority of New Orleans suffered mightily from Katrina, but so did its white minority, who in Mr Lee's estimation had it too good for too long and didn't warrant sympathy.
Movie Review: Katrina Review
Summary: 3 Stars
The video was good but did not show enough of the mayor's and the goverments failure to help these poor people. I would like to have seen more footage and less talking. We especially didn't need Reverend Al. He is always there for the photo shoot but has he done anything to help?