When the Levees Broke
When the Levees Broke | |
---|---|
Directed by | Spike Lee |
Theme music composer | Terence Blanchard |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Producers | Spike Lee Samuel D. Pollard |
Cinematography | Cliff Charles |
Editors | Geeta Gandbhir Nancy Novack Samuel D. Pollard |
Running time | 255 minutes |
Production company | 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks |
Budget | US$2 million |
Original release | |
Network | HBO |
Release | August 16, 2006 |
Related | |
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When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006
The documentary was screened at the
The documentary is based on news video footage and still photos of Katrina and its aftermath, interspersed with interviews. Interviewees include politicians, journalists, historians, engineers, and many residents of various parts of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, who give first hand accounts of their experiences with the levee failures and the aftermath.
In the style of
Synopsis
The film focuses on the changed lives of New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina hit. The film shows residents in the midst of disaster dealing with death, devastation and disease. Spike Lee said about the film:
New Orleans is fighting for its life. These are not people who will disappear quietly — they're accustomed to hardship and slights, and they'll fight for New Orleans. This film will showcase the struggle for New Orleans by focusing on the profound loss, as well as the indomitable spirit of New Orleaneans.[4]
This documentary is Spike Lee's third, preceded by 4 Little Girls (1997), about the Birmingham church bombing of 1963; and Jim Brown: All-American (2002), about the football player.
Shooting for the film began three months after Hurricane Katrina hit, when Lee and his camera crew took the first of eight trips to New Orleans. They conducted interviews and taped footage for the film. Lee hoped to hear varying opinions of the storm and responses to the storm's destruction. He interviewed nearly 100 people of diverse backgrounds and opinions for his film.
Interviewees
People appearing in interviews include:[citation needed]
- Glen David Andrews, musician
- Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority
- Harry Belafonte, actor and singer
- Terence Blanchard, jazz musician
- Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana
- Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Tulane University
- Karen Carter, New Orleans politician, member of the Louisiana State Legislature
- Louella Givens, representative, second district of Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
- Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, member of the New Orleans City Council
- Donnell Herrington, survivor of a post-Katrina shooting in Algiers Point[5]
- Mary Landrieu, senior U.S. Senator from Louisiana
- Mitch Landrieu, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
- Dr. Calvin Mackie, faculty member of Tulane University and founder of Channel Zero; member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority
- Wynton Marsalis, musician
- Dr. Hassan Mashriqui, researcher, Louisiana State University (LSU) Hurricane Center
- Marc Morial, former Mayor of New Orleans and President and CEO of the National Urban League
- Arthur Morrell, New Orleans politician and member of the Louisiana State Legislature
- Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans
- Soledad O'Brien, television journalist
- Sean Penn, actor and activist
- Wendell Pierce, New Orleans actor
- Garland Robinette, New Orleans journalist and radio host
- St. Bernard ParishCouncil
- Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights activist
- Dinerral Shavers, musician
- Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center
- Kanye West, music producer and rapper
- Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, resident of New Orleans East.
Music
The first installment opens with a photo and film montage of historic and recent New Orleans scenes, with a soundtrack of
The film's original score is by Terence Blanchard, a New Orleans-born trumpeter who appears in the film, with his mother and aunt, as they return to their flooded home. Not being the first time that Terence Blanchard had worked as a composer for a film by Spike Lee, Blanchard had worked to create compositions of a more universal genre of jazz as opposed to New Orleans style jazz in order to reach masses of audiences to raise awareness of the results of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In general, the music he had composed was written under the context of respecting those who were directly affected by the catastrophe and with intentions of providing contexts to allow audiences to sympathize with those affected.[6]
Awards
When the Levees Broke won three Emmy Awards: Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, and Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming.
It received a 2006
It won the 2007
Points made by the film
This section possibly contains original research. (March 2011) |
The film focuses on the suffering of those affected by the disaster and their will to survive. Additionally, it suggests that the disaster in New Orleans was preventable, caused by levees poorly designed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the suffering afterward was compounded by failures at all levels of government, most severely at the State level. These points are in line with mainstream investigations, including the bipartisan U.S. Congressional report, A Failure of Initiative, and the Army Corps of Engineers' own studies.[8][9][10][11][12][13]
See also
- 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans
- Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina
References
- ^ "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts", XIXAX.com, July 13, 2006
- ^ 66th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2007.
- ^ Lee, Felicia R. (August 3, 2006). "Agony of New Orleans, Through Spike Lee's Eyes". The New York Times.
- ^ "Documentaries: Home". HBO. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
- ^ Thompson, A. C. (2008-12-17). "Katrina's Hidden Race War". The Nation. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
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: Cite magazine requires|magazine=
(help) - ^ Maloney, Ann. "The pain of Katrina will spill forth when trumpeter Terence Blanchard performs with the LPO on Saturday". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- ^ "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts". Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. 2006. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
- ^ "Americas | US government 'failed' on Katrina". BBC News. 2006-02-13. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
- ^ "Katrina Report Spreads Blame". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
- ^ "The Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina". Katrina.house.gov. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
- ^ Levin, Alan (2006-06-01). "Corps: Levees' design caused deadly failure". Usatoday.Com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
- ^ "Report finds obvious design flaws doomed levees - Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. 2005-12-01. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
- ^ [1] Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
External links
- When the Levees Broke, Official website, HBO
- When the Levees Broke at AllMovie
- When the Levees Broke at IMDb