When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

Thorough and (largely) dispassionate close examination of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath – never thought I would be describing Lee as the less inflammatory version of Michael Moore, but here we are; tendencies towards overlength and repetition are largely balanced by the clear-headed forensic detail (and miles of archival footage) that Lee fashions into a compelling, comprehensive overview of the event, that still never neglects the inherent emotion (and anger) present in his talking heads.

I can't get the sight of Mrs. Blanchard weeping out of my head. My tiny little brain can't comprehend the full scope, the sheer greatness of the cruelty and the despair... not quite. But let's not forget the corpses. Not that I could if I tried. Spike doesn't shy away from showing us these nameless men and women -- a dozen, or more. Their mute testimony is the loudest of all. "NEVER, EVER TRUST SOME GOVERNMENT MOTHERFUCKER TO DO THE RIGHT THING FOR YOU. EVEN IF IT IS ALL THEY ARE PAID TO DO."

Spike Lee provides a nuanced, expansive portrait of the Katrina disaster in its many aspects and consequences, taking a tone of sadness on its effects on human lives, and anger towards the government and other organizations for the ineptitude of their response. The political thought is nicely balanced with the human interest, which provides some heartbreaking scenes that were nearly enough to bring me to tears on occasion. The film, however, looks with hope on the future of New Orleans.

Even with the subject matter only being a few years old, I have a feeling this will have incredible lasting power. I was glued to my chair for 4 hours, a magnificent documentary.

An important work.

Very informative and well organized doc and Lee does a good job of letting clips and the interviewees do the talking. It's full of sorrow, anger and frustration and can be hard to watch at times, but it's well worth it. The final act was a bit less interesting to me, as it gets caught up in singing the praises of New Orleans as a city, but otherwise a great documentary.

There's a parallel here with Sicko. Both documentaries people feared would be overshadowed by their maker's personalities, but both wisely let the images speak for themselves and tell a bleak, informative story.

This is fairly important to see since you never saw the dead bodies or much ground level wreckage or things like that on the news at the time. It's really long - too long if you ask me - and I was never very emotionally moved, but it's still important to watch if you want a holistic understanding of the disaster. The analysis or retelling of the government's response is fairly shallow, and you probably won't gain any insights there, but the rest of it was fairly informative.

Probably the best film that Spike Lee has done in the last 20 years. What keeps it from being a masterpiece is Lee's penchant for preaching his conspiracies about the government's secret war on African Americans.

Excellent documentary. I thought I already knew the whole story here, but actually I didn't know much at all, it turns out. The suffering and death shown in the first acts are shocking enough. But I actually think the massive scale of engineering negligence and insurance fraud explained fourth act was the most horrifying part of all.

Essential humanist documentary.

Hard to stomach and draining, which further pushes home Spike Lee's point that people would rather turn away. Lee lets the people speak in this piece and the reality hurts.

Spike Lee again does amazing work. Spike is clearly undervalued by the film community for doing what he does and sticking to his beliefs. If he ever wants to sell bonds to seed movie projects, I'd be the first in line to buy. Difficult subject. Well handled.

"The film works because Lee turns away from himself, and taps into the unvarnished pain of Gulf Coast residents, who understandably channel their frustrations toward a government that neglected them and whose aid continues to fumble." - Paul Schrodt

Amazing that such a long documentary - particularly as it is not a complicated story - keeps the attention. Nothing unexpected here but the quality of workmanship on the film makes it above parr. Do not expect Lee to make a balanced appraisal of blame though.

Excellent except for some of the more conspiracy theory bits; the rest of the questions and insights more than made up for it, though.

At the risk of sounding like a tag line of this week's new half baked TV reality series this is real people. Real Drama. Absolutely riveting stuff. Completely emotionally draining and I mean that in the best sense.

Some good information and perspective. Would have made a better 2-hour doc.

A 4hr Spike Lee documentary about Hurricane Katrina certainly had the potential to be a racially overbearing sermon, instead Lee wisely forgoes a narrator and lets the pictures and interviewees speak for themselves. Covers a wide scope of tragedy, but is most moving when focused on the individuals loss, despair and disbelief. Quite draining as a single viewing, but a worthwhile experience.

Devastating to watch in one sitting-- some of Lee's best work to date, whether you agree with his politics of not.