When the Levees Broke, Pt. 1
I just watched the first half of When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee's 4-part documentary on Hurricane Katrina and its immediate aftermath. A 'before' note: I hate Spike Lee. He's a self-serving egomaniac and most of his movies suck. But goddamn. I'd be lying if I said I didn't explode in crying fits every few minutes. In terms of catharsis it's making Children of Men look like a stroll in the park, and I'm only halfway through this. This is probably too personal to be discussing here, but I have no reason to hide my feelings on the subject. In fact I see it as somewhat of my obligation to be as loud about them as possible. It should be obvious as the day is long to anyone with at least half a brain and 1/16th a heart that the destruction and continued devastation of one's hometown tends to... well, it fucks one up, whether one sees it firsthand or not. Third-person discussion of myself otherwise, I wish that the situation in New Orleans would affect all of you as it has me. In fact, I don't think this world is right if it hasn't affected you in this way. The one eminent thought in my head as I watched this, from first frame to last, the nagging feeling that's been haunting me for years now: something is wrong with you if you think that things are okay. What the flying ferret fuck is our major malfunction, that we can stomach the destruction of one of a handful of major American cities left? Are we that passive? Or just that ignorant? And is there a difference?
But this is veering away from strict review. It's not the most artfully done documentary ever. A lot of the music is ham-handed maudlin bullshit, and he gives way too much fucking face time to the "local activists" who say the levees were bombed. Spike also (like Spike does) makes it more an issue of race than of class - when if anything it's instructive to view New Orleans as a place where in recent history class has superceded. The same can be said for most of the country, though to a lesser extent. It was also disappointing to see so much face time allotted for the invisible mayor of New Orleans, Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin, to pontificate on how wonderful his response was and how honest and forthright his much-later conversation with the President. I love Ray solely for his radio interview in which he said "goddamn" a few times, because it really did perk people's ears up and get far more federal assistance. But it's strange to actually see his face anywhere now - even in town. I didn't see him at Jazzfest - and I was there the entire second weekend, snooping around the floor he reserved for himself. I'll be interested to see how much time Spike devotes to the after-aftermath in the second half, and the Road Home program, though this production ended so long ago that it's probably not within the time span.
Coincidentally, Lee and his crew got a lot of footage of the barge that probably helped collapse the 17th street canal levee, and ended up on top of a house and a schoolbus and a car in the flattened Lower Ninth Ward. This is one of my pictures of it, from December 2005:
This was one of the main locations I shot in December 2005, and nearly the sole star of December 2006, though the barge was gone by the latter date. Clicking on the picture will take you to my full photo gallery, of about 450 pictures.
But this is veering away from strict review. It's not the most artfully done documentary ever. A lot of the music is ham-handed maudlin bullshit, and he gives way too much fucking face time to the "local activists" who say the levees were bombed. Spike also (like Spike does) makes it more an issue of race than of class - when if anything it's instructive to view New Orleans as a place where in recent history class has superceded. The same can be said for most of the country, though to a lesser extent. It was also disappointing to see so much face time allotted for the invisible mayor of New Orleans, Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin, to pontificate on how wonderful his response was and how honest and forthright his much-later conversation with the President. I love Ray solely for his radio interview in which he said "goddamn" a few times, because it really did perk people's ears up and get far more federal assistance. But it's strange to actually see his face anywhere now - even in town. I didn't see him at Jazzfest - and I was there the entire second weekend, snooping around the floor he reserved for himself. I'll be interested to see how much time Spike devotes to the after-aftermath in the second half, and the Road Home program, though this production ended so long ago that it's probably not within the time span.
Coincidentally, Lee and his crew got a lot of footage of the barge that probably helped collapse the 17th street canal levee, and ended up on top of a house and a schoolbus and a car in the flattened Lower Ninth Ward. This is one of my pictures of it, from December 2005:
This was one of the main locations I shot in December 2005, and nearly the sole star of December 2006, though the barge was gone by the latter date. Clicking on the picture will take you to my full photo gallery, of about 450 pictures.