When the Levees Broke - A Requiem in Four Acts
Aroview: Powerful, enraging chronicle of this century’s first great natural disaster, and the man-made catastrophe that unfolded post-Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans.
Forgoing all-knowing narration for a widespread canvas of interviews and personal reflection, dir. Spike Lee’s ‘requiem’ is arranged through moving eyewitness accounts, staggering news footage, and sobering hindsight from talking heads. Its four acts (plus a fifth act epilogue exclusive to DVD) amount to an authoritative, exhaustive documentary tome, and while capturing hope and pathos in equal parts, is never far removed from Lee’s poli-racial cinema. Sure to leave a bitter aftertaste, its broadside on political fiasco, federal malpractice, and the failure of a first-world nation makes the central human tragedy all the more difficult to swallow.
DVD Features
- audio commentary
- extra stuff
- aspect ratio: 16:9
- 3-disc set
Close Relatives