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Reviewed by:
  • When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
  • Anne M. Valk
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. Directed by Spike Lee. New York: HBO Documentary Films, 2006. Distributed with Teaching The Levees: A Curriculum for Democratic Dialogue and Civic Engagement. New York: Teachers College Press, 2007.

Over a career spanning more than two decades, director Spike Lee has earned a reputation for his dramatic fictional films, many of them chronicling contemporary urban life and race relations in America and, particularly, confronting the ironies and inequalities that characterize African American experiences. In his explorations of the politics of race and class, Lee often has mined recent historical topics, including "Summer of Sam," "Get on the Bus," and, most famously, "Malcolm X." Although his fictional work has received more attention, Lee also has proven himself masterful when working in nonfiction documentary. His film about the 1963 fatal bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, "4 Little Girls," was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1998. [End Page 197]

Not surprisingly, given his interest in the intertwining forces of race and class in contemporary America, Lee turned to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath as the subject of his most recent film. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts details the events following the destructive late summer storm in 2005, interrogating the public and personal responses to the loss of lives, property, and a community's sense of safety. The film, which won the George Polk Award for television documentary in 2007, concentrates on New Orleans, with occasional nods to the larger affected region. This geographic focus makes sense since Lee's film concentrates on the tragedy that followed the failure of New Orleans' levees after the storm. Told in four episodes, each about 1 h in length, The Levees moves chronologically, starting with initial warnings about the hurricane and ending with efforts to rebuild the city's levees and repopulate its neighborhoods. Lee covers the event from many angles, capturing the gaps between the often contradictory accounts of residents, the news media coverage, reports of on-the-ground rescue and relief efforts, and the responses of public officials. In his telling, the failure of the New Orleans' levees illuminates the role of racism in shaping urban policy and governmental responses to America's underclass and, in particular, the plight of the poor following an emergency that never should have happened.

To tell his story, Lee weaves together personal stories of struggle and survival. Nearly one hundred individuals appear in the film, most of them New Orleans residents who represent the city's diverse population of artists and musicians, professionals, activists, and tourism workers. He also includes people who were involved in the search and rescue effort, who reported the event for news organizations, or who provide expert testimony as historians, engineers, climatologists, and politicians. About half of the informants appear repeatedly throughout the episodes, allowing the viewer to follow these individuals as they recount their experiences of the storm and their longer recovery from its aftermath. As in his other films, Lee's film is accompanied by a compelling musical score that draws largely on jazz, including some familiar songs that relate to the city and through which Lee contrasts New Orleans' festive image with the horrors of the storm and floods. In addition, When the Levees Broke is elaborately illustrated with photographs and film footage from the days following the crisis, along with historical photographs. Although much of this footage will be familiar to those who watched television during the event, the passage of time has not lessened its power.

Oral historians will appreciate the remarkable range of voices and stories included in When the Levees Broke. Lee's interviewees confronted Hurricane Katrina with very different responses and resources. Many fled before the storm; others chose to stay or had no choice but to remain in the city. Of those who remained, some fled to the Superdome, others to the airport, and others tried to leave New Orleans on foot. At the time of the interviews, some had been forced to build lives elsewhere, while others proclaimed their resolve to...

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