“When the Levee Broke” Screening
Director Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke is the definitive document of the unmitigated disaster that was, and is, Hurricane Katrina. It’s also a contemporary manifestation of an ancient tradition: an oral history, told by the people who lived it, with no narration and only the occasional use of archival cable and broadcast news footage in addition to Lee’s own film. And a grim tale it is, an “American tragedy” subtitled “a Requiem in Four Acts,” each of them about an hour long.
Act I sets the scene; as the hurricane nears the Crescent City, some residents leave town, while others stay behind, figuring they’ll just ride the storm out– “mandatory evacuation” order rings fairly hollow, as there’s no public transportation provided for the many who don’t own vehicles. The real problems begin after Katrina makes landfall on August 29, 2005. Displaced New Orleaneans crowd into the Superdome, soon to become a living hell for those stuck there; the incredibly poorly engineered levees break, flooding some 80 percent of the city; and people start dying by the hundreds. And so it goes. Act II finds the survivors struggling to keep it together while the federal, state, and local assistance they’ve been promised fails to show up; Act III traces the dispersal of these so-called “refugees” all over the country, not knowing where their families, friends, and neighbors are, or even if they’re still alive; and Act IV deals with the slow rebuilding of the city while insurance companies refuse to pay claims and money keeps going toward the Iraq war effort instead.
The Civic Media Center will be showing “When the Levee Broke,” but we’d like to know how YOU want to see it. Because the film is 4 hours long, we are asking members to let us know if you would prefer to see the film in its entirety in one sitting, or if you would rather the film be split between two sittings of two hours each. We can show the first half one week, and the second half the next week. Or, we can show the first half one day, and the second half the next day. Email us at outreach@civicmediacenter.org, and let us know how YOU want to see it. Or, give us a call: (352) 373-0010. This is an important film, and we want to get as many people out as we can. Thanks!