Right on Spike
Yesterday was the one year aniversary of Katrina, I am sure all are cognizant as everyone was bombarded incessantly by this commemoration. Not to say that it didnt merit this unrelenting coverage, because it certainly did. It also happened to be the day Spike Lee's Documentary WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE was released on HBO. You all know i am a Spike Lee enthusiast and was heavly anticipating the director's first documentary, i am glad to say that Mr. Lee certainly did not disappoint.
Although very lengthy (the run-time is a little over 4 hours), I felt that the extent of the film did not take away from the overall experience. It is easily the most comprehensive documentary on the subject matter. I was a little worried about the polarization of the film (i.e. his very arrant liberal political views influencing his product), but it was actually very fair and in many cases ambiguous in its distribution of blame (too bad we cant say the same about the real situation, katrina was plagued with a marx brothers esque "he said she said" situation.) I know the red flags go off when we hear Spike Lee is directing a film on katrina...we think it was labeled a black story so WHO ELSE. Of course there are numerous black issues that come up but should we chalk that up to Spike's usual black power hubris or maybe to the fact that New Orleans was a predominantly black city!!!! Of course many of these things have to do with race and the film makes that very evident, but you dont get the over saturization feel. Actually some of the most intriguing and reoccuring characters are white. One of whom happens to be Dr. Ben Marble......the guy who said "GO FUCK YOURSELF MR. CHANEY!" during dick's publicity stunt in the gulf region. I also was really intrigued by Michael Eric Dyson, an author who commented ocasionally throughout the film. I bought his book "Come Hell or High Water: Katrina and the Color of Disaster" on amazon yesterday, i will tell you what i think. I suggest seeing the movie and making your own judgements....it is noW on demand HBO. Well it's off to work i go.
Mr_Baysidehigh
Justin " Ok Slater, your on." Myers
Although very lengthy (the run-time is a little over 4 hours), I felt that the extent of the film did not take away from the overall experience. It is easily the most comprehensive documentary on the subject matter. I was a little worried about the polarization of the film (i.e. his very arrant liberal political views influencing his product), but it was actually very fair and in many cases ambiguous in its distribution of blame (too bad we cant say the same about the real situation, katrina was plagued with a marx brothers esque "he said she said" situation.) I know the red flags go off when we hear Spike Lee is directing a film on katrina...we think it was labeled a black story so WHO ELSE. Of course there are numerous black issues that come up but should we chalk that up to Spike's usual black power hubris or maybe to the fact that New Orleans was a predominantly black city!!!! Of course many of these things have to do with race and the film makes that very evident, but you dont get the over saturization feel. Actually some of the most intriguing and reoccuring characters are white. One of whom happens to be Dr. Ben Marble......the guy who said "GO FUCK YOURSELF MR. CHANEY!" during dick's publicity stunt in the gulf region. I also was really intrigued by Michael Eric Dyson, an author who commented ocasionally throughout the film. I bought his book "Come Hell or High Water: Katrina and the Color of Disaster" on amazon yesterday, i will tell you what i think. I suggest seeing the movie and making your own judgements....it is noW on demand HBO. Well it's off to work i go.
Mr_Baysidehigh
Justin " Ok Slater, your on." Myers