When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts

[Lord of The Curry 0]

"Everybody should see this film"

 

I work in DVD retail and when you see as many films as I do (fuck it, they're free) and hear the comments of customers day in and day out you see a phrase like this thrown around a lot. Sometimes I'll hope a movie rents really well or tell a lot of people that if they like a certain film then they'll like this one. But when this film comes out I will go against my own rules and use said phrase to every single person who comes into my store.

 

Frankly I'm surprised that when it was released on HBO (and The Movie Network for Canadians) I didn't see any threads about this. Fuck a Bowling For Columbine. Fuck Farenheit 9/11. This is the best American documentary of the year and probably the decade, alongside being one of the most important films made in God knows how long, alongside Why We Fight which is another great film.

 

What a completely and utterly horrifying thing to watch unfold. The movie clocks in at something like close to 6 hours so it's not recommended to try and watch it all in one shot, if also for the fact that unless you have no soul you will spend a good portion of this movie fighting back tears. People will say "Of course Spike Lee made a movie about Katrina victims" but it's not like you can tell that this is a Spike Lee Joint just by watching it. Spike himself barely appears in the movie on screen and you only hear him speak a handful of times. The movie is about the people and their stories, majority of which are sad though there is the occasional uplifting moment on the whole this is one depressing-ass six hours. In a society where so much emphasis is placed on war and terrorism it's shocking to see the war of Residents of New Orleans vs The American Government.

 

So, who actually saw this movie and who plans to see it? American, Canadian, it doesn't matter. This is something that needs to be seen and more importantly, needs to be remembered.

[Hawk 34 0]

Yeah. I watched it on HBO Demand, where they broke it into those four parts. It was good for what it was.

 

I was shocked that Lee didn't go into this with the usual vitriol as I expected and just let the images do the job instead. You brought up a point with the Moore projects.

 

Those were fairly good documentaries in that they were interesting topics but both failed to have the stinging effect that Lee's production offered. Those movies are more about one man's agenda, while I much perfered Lee's classic document format.

 

Lee's approach was so much more effective in showing the damage instead of a fat man sticking a camera in everyone's face.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

It's weird because there very much is a political slant but it's not like Moore's films where he tries to uncover the problem or expose something. The problems were obvious and the situation was clearly exposed for everybody to see. There was no point in blaring "BUSH DONE FUCKED UP" because it was already a known thing. The footage of Soledad O'Brien from CNN grilling Michael Brown was half-awesome, half-disturbing. And seeing Wendell Pierce aka Bunk Moreland from The Wire was sweet.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I saw it on HBO, and loved it. Excellent documentary all around.

[Vyce 0]

It's weird because there very much is a political slant but it's not like Moore's films where he tries to uncover the problem or expose something. The problems were obvious and the situation was clearly exposed for everybody to see. There was no point in blaring "BUSH DONE FUCKED UP" because it was already a known thing. The footage of Soledad O'Brien from CNN grilling Michael Brown was half-awesome, half-disturbing. And seeing Wendell Pierce aka Bunk Moreland from The Wire was sweet.

 

Does Lee spend a good deal of time slamming Nagin and every other LA politician?

 

Because they fucked up long before, and more monumentally so, than the federal government.

 

That's my concern about this doc. Knowing Lee's biases he probably goes straight to "GEORGE BUSH HATES BLACK PEOPLE!" instead of providing criticism of, say, the BLACK mayor of New Orleans who was a colossal fuck-up in his own right.

 

Plus doesn't he entertain that bullshit conspiracy theory about the U.S. government intentionally blowing up the levees?

[Guest A.BUTCHER'S HOUSE OF RIBS]

Preordered a few copies of this for my store. I can't wait to see it. It comes out 12-19-06

[SuperJerk 0]

Rather than getting into another argument over the politics of the Katrina disaster, I'll instead mention that "When The Levee Breaks" is one of my favorite songs on Led Zeppelin IV.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Rather than getting into another argument over the politics of the Katrina disaster, I'll instead mention that "When The Levee Breaks" is one of my favorite songs on Led Zeppelin IV.

 

I concur. The drums from the opening may be the greatest thing ever captured on vinyl.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

It's weird because there very much is a political slant but it's not like Moore's films where he tries to uncover the problem or expose something. The problems were obvious and the situation was clearly exposed for everybody to see. There was no point in blaring "BUSH DONE FUCKED UP" because it was already a known thing. The footage of Soledad O'Brien from CNN grilling Michael Brown was half-awesome, half-disturbing. And seeing Wendell Pierce aka Bunk Moreland from The Wire was sweet.

 

Does Lee spend a good deal of time slamming Nagin and every other LA politician?

 

Because they fucked up long before, and more monumentally so, than the federal government.

 

That's my concern about this doc. Knowing Lee's biases he probably goes straight to "GEORGE BUSH HATES BLACK PEOPLE!" instead of providing criticism of, say, the BLACK mayor of New Orleans who was a colossal fuck-up in his own right.

 

Plus doesn't he entertain that bullshit conspiracy theory about the U.S. government intentionally blowing up the levees?

 

Spike doesn't really do any of the questioning in this movie, it's more intercut between people saying one thing and the person they're talking about giving their reply. Nagin isn't spared and he's pretty honest about his faults in the movie but to say he's put on the same pedestal as Bush, Brown and others probably wouldn't be an accurate statement.

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

Rather than getting into another argument over the politics of the Katrina disaster, I'll instead mention that "When The Levee Breaks" is one of my favorite songs on Led Zeppelin IV.

 

I concur. The drums from the opening may be the greatest thing ever captured on vinyl.

 

This song bored my beyond tears. The documentary, however, was heartbreaking and absolutely essential, if a bit draggy near the end when they went into detail about the economics and whatnot and it all went soaring over my head.

[NoCalMike 0]

I saw it when it originally aired on HBO....the maker of this documentary was featured in it and was personally invited to a screening by Spike Lee. It was definately a powerful piece of film making.

 

As far as the comments about Moore, Farenheit was merely ok, but I believe Bowling for Columbine gets unjust hate because people watch it and think the point of it was "Guns are Evil" which is definately NOT THE POINT that the movie is trying to make, but so many people went into the movie thinking that is what they were going to see that they convinced themselves it was a documentary about guns.

[NoCalMike 0]

Rather than getting into another argument over the politics of the Katrina disaster, I'll instead mention that "When The Levee Breaks" is one of my favorite songs on Led Zeppelin IV.

 

 

It's funny or not so funny, that a lot of us have heard that song hundreds of times before Katrina, and then post-Katrina if you sit down and just listen to the lyrics...your just like "oh......fuck"

[Guest Felonies!]

I'm very interested in seeing this. Slant or no slant, it has to be compelling stuff.

 

Rather than getting into another argument over the politics of the Katrina disaster, I'll instead mention that "When The Levee Breaks" is one of my favorite songs on Led Zeppelin IV.

 

 

It's funny or not so funny, that a lot of us have heard that song hundreds of times before Katrina, and then post-Katrina if you sit down and just listen to the lyrics...your just like "oh......fuck"

Oh, it's nothing that harrowing. "If the levee breaks, got no place to stay." I'm sure that's been a recurring sentiment along the Mississippi River for some time now. It's not as if Robert Plant-via-Kansas Joe McCoy said "if a hurricane hits New Orleans and floods the city with raw sewage, not only will we lose our homes, but the municipal, state, and federal government will fail to provide prompt and effective public assistance due to bureaucratic inertia and this will act as a catalyst for another wave of American racial tension." Now that'd be some real holy-shit songwriting.

 

Now if you want to talk about black humor through popular music, "Walking on Sunshine" does the job.

[SuperJerk 0]

Perhaps this disaster was God's way of keeping Katina and the Waves from ever getting back together. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

[2GOLD 0]

Perhaps this disaster was God's way of keeping Katina and the Waves from ever getting back together. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

 

Or maybe it was God's way of starting the downfall of Mr. West. And has anyone seen Mike Myers since that day? Guy seems to have gone into hiding.

[SuperJerk 0]

Nah, that was probably just an unintended side benefit.

[ZGangsta 0]

I'm very interested in seeing this. Slant or no slant, it has to be compelling stuff.

 

Rather than getting into another argument over the politics of the Katrina disaster, I'll instead mention that "When The Levee Breaks" is one of my favorite songs on Led Zeppelin IV.

 

 

It's funny or not so funny, that a lot of us have heard that song hundreds of times before Katrina, and then post-Katrina if you sit down and just listen to the lyrics...your just like "oh......fuck"

Oh, it's nothing that harrowing. "If the levee breaks, got no place to stay." I'm sure that's been a recurring sentiment along the Mississippi River for some time now. It's not as if Robert Plant-via-Kansas Joe McCoy said "if a hurricane hits New Orleans and floods the city with raw sewage, not only will we lose our homes, but the municipal, state, and federal government will fail to provide prompt and effective public assistance due to bureaucratic inertia and this will act as a catalyst for another wave of American racial tension." Now that'd be some real holy-shit songwriting.

 

Now if you want to talk about black humor through popular music, "Walking on Sunshine" does the job.

I always took the Hurricane Katrina 'theme song trilogy' to be When the Levee Breaks, Walking on Sunshine, and the Tragically Hip's New Orleans is Sinking ("New Orleans is sinking man and I don't wanna swim").

[2GOLD 0]

Nah, that was probably just an unintended side benefit.

 

Which part? Mike Myers into hiding, Kanye going crazy or both? I'm leaning towards both.

[SuperJerk 0]

Yeah, all of it.

[Ripper 0]

Kanye was insane before then. More people just got to see this time. Not everyone watches Punkd so they didn't see the earlier comfirmation

[SuperJerk 0]

A lot of people, myself included, had never even heard of Kanye before Katrina.

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

Really? The media had been sucking his dick to a prune for at least a year before the whole thing happened.

[SuperJerk 0]

Really? The media had been sucking his dick to a prune for at least a year before the whole thing happened.

 

The media outlets that cover the music industry are largely ignored by pretty much anyone over 25.

 

Just one of the many joys of getting older.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

As far as the comments about Moore, Farenheit was merely ok, but I believe Bowling for Columbine gets unjust hate because people watch it and think the point of it was "Guns are Evil" which is definately NOT THE POINT that the movie is trying to make, but so many people went into the movie thinking that is what they were going to see that they convinced themselves it was a documentary about guns.

But that's the point. It was advertised as being about how Columbine occurred and why there aren't school shootings in other nations, and then switched halfway into some crazy rant about gun control that didn't solve the issue at hand. Or was Moore trying to say that Columbine occurred not because the two kids were legitimate psychopaths but because of racism via lame-ass flash cartoon? I'm still trying to figure out the message of the film, because it starts off so damn well...but then Moore goes on some tear-jerking tangent about some 6-year-old that got shot because a classmate brought a gun to school, and it all goes fucking nuts until Charlton Heston walks out of his interview due to Moore just being a prick.

[SuperJerk 0]

As far as the comments about Moore, Farenheit was merely ok, but I believe Bowling for Columbine gets unjust hate because people watch it and think the point of it was "Guns are Evil" which is definately NOT THE POINT that the movie is trying to make, but so many people went into the movie thinking that is what they were going to see that they convinced themselves it was a documentary about guns.

But that's the point. It was advertised as being about how Columbine occurred and why there aren't school shootings in other nations, and then switched halfway into some crazy rant about gun control that didn't solve the issue at hand. Or was Moore trying to say that Columbine occurred not because the two kids were legitimate psychopaths but because of racism via lame-ass flash cartoon? I'm still trying to figure out the message of the film, because it starts off so damn well...but then Moore goes on some tear-jerking tangent about some 6-year-old that got shot because a classmate brought a gun to school, and it all goes fucking nuts until Charlton Heston walks out of his interview due to Moore just being a prick.

I think Moore's final point was that the news media makes people edgy and paranoid, and more likely to be violent.

 

That point was somewhat negated by his earlier point that our entertainment media doesn't make people violent, but its our violent history.

 

That point is negated by his comparisons to Germany's violent history and how there society isn't very violent, but they have gun control.

 

That point about gun control was negated by his pointing out that Canada's gun control isn't any different than ours, but they have a different news media.

 

In short, Moore spends the entire film confusing the issue without ever comng to any real conclusion, but winning praise for being topical and irreverent.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Bought it last week, watched it through and it still hits like a fucking brick. This movie is the #1 reason why I cannot give two shits about anything or anyone at the Oscars this year as this was far and away the most important movie of the year, maybe the decade. I can't think of a movie in recent memory where I'm torn between being glued to the TV and wanting to turn the damned thing off.

 

If you didn't check it out on HBO then I highly recommend that you rent the DVD because on the third disc there's a two-hour bonus chapter that follows everybody in the film upon their return (or lack of) to N.O and it discusses at length the property disputes and insurance problems that most people are now facing which is pretty disturbing in itself.