A Major Disappointment

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

If you want a thorough understanding of what happened in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 then this is the documentary for you. It's over 4 hours in length and it is brings out the devastation of this calamitous storm. It also demonstrates the ineptitude of government at all levels – local, state and federal (well it was the George Bush years). What did FEMA do? At the company where I use to work they had a Disaster Recovery plan in place – it was tested every year. What type of disaster plan did the city of New Orleans have? What was their plan for when a class 5 hurricane hit? Was it to put people in a stadium or drop them on an elevated highway with no food or water? They told people to leave, but there was no mass public transportation in place to facilitate this. Had these leaders never heard the expression: "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst"?As many people in the documentary stated the devastation was simply "indescribable". The people affected simply became disenfranchised –some real estate companies were trying to buy their property at rock-bottom prices after Katrina. There is a lot of newsreel footage but the real impact is felt with the interviews of the residents who experienced Katrina. The first 2 acts of this documentary highlight Katrina's beginnings and the actual storm with people inhabiting the stadium. The last 2 acts are the residual affects - what becomes of New Orleans and its' people? It is more obvious at this stage that the Federal Government hardly cared and was forced to act probably just as much by news footage as by severe prompting from the city and state governments.This is powerful documentary that works on many levels: the simple overwhelming forces of nature, the live reaction of those affected, and how all levels of government were completely caught off guard by this.

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.

Yes, Spike Lee has an agenda. So what? So does every documentarian. No one who has an ounce of humanity can deny that what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was a failure of grotesque proportions. We can get food and water to people in Southeast Asia in two days, but it took five days for the same government to get food and water to our fellow citizens!?! That is deplorable, and it makes the mayor, the governor, the president and everyone in government look bad. What makes them look worse is that an actor, Sean Penn, is able to do more -- and do more in a timely manner -- than anybody supposedly in power. What I appreciated most were the stories of those whose faith saw them through this catastrophe. I watched this during Holy Week, and that amazing rendition of "The Old Rugged Cross" stayed with me for days and will likely echo in me for weeks to come.

Spike Lee is certainly not correct about levees being blown,but the truth is even worse.He is certainly nearer to the truth than people who blame "the force of the hurricane".As one who rode out both Katrina and Hurricane Betsy in the same house in Gentilly,it was obvious at the time that Katrina was no worse.The lake levees,which were properly built,though exposed to the full force of the storm,came through unscathed.What collapsed and flooded the main part of the city west of the Industrial Canal were those worthless,cracker box,stage-prop "flood walls" along the drainage canals that folded up and collapsed like cheap card tables the minute the water rose.Besides the Corps of Engineers,we can blame former Mayor "Slimy Sidney" Barthelemy"The Man Who Murdered A City".He deliberately forced out the veteran engineers of the Sewage & Water Board,so that no one would object to those worthless (but profitable) frauds.AND he had the valuable assistance of the alleged "newspaper",the Times Picayune which covered up his criminality. The incompetent stooges that Barthelemy replaced the experienced engineers with not only approved those worthless flood walls that the old engineers knew were disasters waiting to happen,but, still infesting the Sewage & Water Board to this day,insanely dredged the drainage canals in such a way as to remove what little foundations those flood walls had.The 17th St. Canal shows this graphically.This sits astride the parish line.Jefferson Parish engineers refused to allow this lunatic dredging on THEIR side of the canal, which is why only the Orleans side collapsed.A year before Katrina, people living along the drainage canals complained of salt water seeping into their yards, killing plants.To a COMPETENT,HONEST engineer this a clear sign that something was dangerously wrong with the levee foundations.But the Barthelemy "engineers" swept it under the rug,telling people that they were "imagining things".And as for blaming those who wouldn't evacuate,If one thing was proved, it is that evacuating a city this size IS NOT PRACTICAL.New Orleans could and should have been an impregnable fortress against hurricanes.The vast bulk of the misery caused by Barthelemy's Flood was the destruction of the homes,and LIVES of the "survivors",who now have to live,or rather EXIST in this horror.The empty city was picked clean by looters despite the presence of thousands of police and National Guard,which shows that it is the PEOPLE who are the real crime deterrents.Telling people,"Get out, let the hurricane and the looters destroy your homes and businesses,and we will give you sardine can trailers to live in" is typical of the garbage we hear from the government.