Harockerce What a beautiful movie!

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

mantarayinvasion This documentary is intensely powerful, all 4 parts of it - easily over 4 or 5 hours in total (I watched it all from beginning to end in one sitting and lost track of time). The purity of the depiction is very refreshing, free of the overbearingly pompous moral platitudes of someone like Michael Moore. No voice-over, just the just the voices of people involved in the disaster. Yes, it is clear what side the filmmaker is on. However, the way the film is produced is balanced, thought-provoking and insightful in such a way that one simply cannot argue with what it is saying. It is incredibly poignant, but there is no sentimentality here - there 's simply no need for it, because the tragedy is so stark and numbing in its extremity. The scale of the tragedy is too huge for any lens to capture, but this is probably the closest most outsiders could ever get to feeling the pain of the New Orleans people. It is clear this was an unprecedented event, and it really does require the depth and scope that a 4 or 5 hour examination makes possible. It is always compulsive viewing, and while the subject matter is impossibly dark, it does show some wonderful flashes of human strength and positivity that provide some hope. In short, it is a masterpiece of documentary film-making, and a very courageous project.** spoilers and discussion below **The first 2 parts cover the buildup to and immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It is harrowing and painful. It is incredible to see 'third-world' scenes of utter devastation and people so viciously stripped of their humanity and dignity on American soil. You will see dead bodies hideously swollen and decomposed, shell-shocked children whose last memory of their home is watching their parents die. Words honestly fail me when trying to convey the horrors depicted here. It is not easy viewing, but in a way it is our duty to watch it.Nothing can prepare you for acts 3 and 4 that cover the longer-term aftermath. This is a mind-boggling story of an entire people, community and culture sold out and literally left to rot. Families are separated and dispersed around the country, left to fend for themselves. Work on clearing up the city doesn't even start for 6+ months after the event. On top of everything else, property developers are trying to steal citizens' bare land with the government's help (it's very profitable you see). It is a shameful indictment of the corrupt and subhuman way that the US is run. To any sane person watching, there is absolutely no doubt that the government of the US does not care about its people. For this reason alone this is probably the most important film that Spike Lee will ever make.I am saddened by the criticism of this film in some of the reviews here. The film is clearly not only about black people, even though when a city has such a large black majority it is inevitable that race will become an issue. Wake up America, the only place in the world with such segregated communities was South Africa during apartheid. There are a lot of clearly shocked white people here, quite obviously feeling absolutely betrayed by the government and system they formerly believed in. It seems almost like the negative reviewers are hired ghouls of the government out to discredit this film and its maker. The more cynical would say "well, what right do these people have to receive anything for free?" - I would implore these people to watch act 4. Lawful citizens who have paid years of tax and insurance, building a livelihood out of nothing with their bare hands, are told they will get nothing - theft and fraud on a grand scale. How does this fit into the American dream? How do you know that it won't happen to you tomorrow?The most incredible thing you realise after watching this film is that somewhere along the line, life and humanity became expendable and cheaper than the paper we worship. The only thing that means anything anymore is money and power, and the only way to grow is to acquire more of it. This documentary shows how empty and destructive this philosophy actually is. I'm happy that Spike Lee still has the balls to make films like this.The other thing you're left wondering at the end is: what more does it actually take for people to wake up and realise what is happening? What is this 'freedom' that is being sold to the world with a gun to its head?By the way if you think I'm a typical internet anarcho-commie rebel, you could not be further from the truth. I work, pay taxes, bills, all the rest of it, just like any honest citizen. Read my other reviews, I'm not some kind of reactionary Infowars sheep. However I refuse to bury my head in the sand, and after watching this film you will also find it hard to do so. The truth is here, more vivid, brutal and real than CNN could ever be. You owe it to yourself to watch it.

lockandload481 This documentary is a very well put-together film outlining all the details of the Katrina disaster. It was informational, analytical, and moving; my favorite points of a documentary. I was also pleased to see a great deal of political commentary as well.The film may emphasize on the racial issue a little too much for my taste, but the message is clear enough: the Bush administration screwed up, just like they screw everything up. The disaster could have and SHOULD have been handled much better.So overall, great film. I would recommend everyone see this and get some education on the subject, and then can interpret it how they like.

kslessley I was impressed by Spike Lee's patience with the scope of this material, and in not rushing the story or distorting it to make it fit a budget or a shorter viewing. I loved the portrayal of New Orleans' unique culture, its people, its roots in French settlers, slavery, the Civil War, its legacy for the world in jazz, in cuisine, in revelry. I loved the way he brought out the peoples' love of the land, their love for each other, their passion for family, for all things New Orleans. It's informative in its inclusion of how the destruction of the wetlands contributed to the flooding of New Orleans, as did inferior levee design, as did political negligence, as did current - and ongoing to this day - administration dismissiveness (which is hard not to see as racial, or at least oblivious to the poor). The aftermath was even more criminal negligence, governmental failure at every level, insurance companies renegging on promises already paid for, and the failure of the media to adequately report and investigate the destruction of a region and a people. The palpable anger of the speakers is second only to their grief. This is a story about people, not so much about the natural disaster. Some people cared, some, tragically did not. It's hard to imagine seeing this and not being stirred to feelings, and action.

Lee Eisenberg I was with my host family in St. Petersburg, Russia, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. As we watched it on the news, I was absolutely ashamed. Even if I couldn't understand every word, I could see what it looked like, and I didn't know how to explain to my host family the fact that my government abandoned the people of New Orleans.Well, even just seeing it on TV and reading about it through e-mails and over the Internet didn't prepare me for what I saw in Spike Lee's documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts". When I saw just what everything looked like, I was horrified. Aside from the fact that the Crescent City will probably never be the same, the documentary makes clear that this was another example of those in charge screwing the people (certainly that looked like the case during the 1927 flood).Any logical-minded person would have to agree that George W. Bush playing the guitar while New Orleans drowned was the same sort of thing as Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burned, or Marie Antoinette saying "Let them eat cake.": it was the ultimate display of not caring. But the New Orleanians interviewed weren't neutral: that one boy was very clear about what the city needed.I liked how Spike Lee interviewed various figures (Ray Nagin, Kathleen Blanco, etc.) to get their opinions on what what went wrong, even if they sometimes blamed each other. Of course, the biggest blame lies with the Bush administration for its racism, inaction, and starving of government programs (never mind that he'd sent the National Guard to Iraq to fight his vile war). As Rev. Al Sharpton put it, we're supposed to be spreading democracy to Iraq while the people here got nothing.All in all, this just might be Spike Lee's best work ever. It just goes to show what the US government had degenerated into. For the record, Harry Belafonte mentioned how Venezuela's Hugo Chavez had offered New Orleans help; I remember while I was in St. Petersburg reading on the Internet that Cuba's government also offered help (the Bush administration didn't respond, natch). Also while I was in St. Petersburg, I read about Bob Denver's death on 2 September 2005; it turned out that that was the same day that Bush commended FEMA head Michael Brown for "doing a heckuva job". So the last thing that Bob Denver got to see before dying was Bush praising incompetence (even if it wasn't specifically Brown's fault).All in all, a great documentary. And I laud Kanye West for reminding everyone that George W. Bush doesn't care about black people.