Robert, Mary, and Katrina (review)

Robert, Mary, and Katrina begins starkly: a black screen. A 911 operator advising an elderly caller to escape to higher ground. The sound of a helicopter—an elusive promise of rescue. In the second shot viewers are introduced to septuagenarians Robert and Mary Manuel, Hurricane Katrina survivors. Likable, articulate, humble, the Manuels proceed to tell their harrowing tale over the film's remaining 41 min. Like so many other New Orleans residents, the Manuels felt certain their house could withstand the hurricane. Of course, what they had not counted on were the levy breeches and the ensuing flood. As their home quickly filled with water, the Manuels, along with several of their grown children, grandchildren, and the family dog, scrambled through a hole cut in their ceiling and clung for life on the home's wooden frame. Mercifully rescued from this desperate situation by the neighborhood "bad boys" (their phrase) who had commandeered a boat, the Manuels eventually landed on an interstate overpass. While on the overpass they became separated from their children and grandchildren, who ended up in the Superdome. Wet, dirty, and exhausted, Robert and Mary secured seats on a helicopter and made it to a shelter some 80 miles north of the city. With the aid of kindhearted volunteers, Robert and Mary were able to relocate their children who, at the time this interview was recorded, remain scattered throughout the country.

Robert and Mary Manuel are compelling storytellers, and they deserve better than what they receive in this film. It is a stretch to call this a documentary; rather, it is a video interview with a mildly artistic introduction. There is little evidence of "film making" ; indeed, the interview is filmed in one continuous shot, just an elderly couple talking in front of a gray felt backdrop. The viewer will find none of the stock tools of the documentary trade here. No footage of the storm. No creative juxtapositions of talking heads and images. Perhaps this is bold filmmaking, relying on only the raw story but this reviewer longed for an examination of passing comments made by Robert and Mary that reveal deeper, historically significant issues. For example, Robert's intense focus on rescue and Mary's obsession with feeding their infant grandchildren reveal gendered responses to the catastrophe. Or Robert's observation that "The storm has a tendency to divide this country" which of course speaks to the racial and class divisions laid bare by Katrina. Viewers hoping for a layered and probing examination of the storm and its devastating consequences will have to look elsewhere.