Spike Gets It Right in 'Levees,' Says New Orleans Resident

NEW ORLEANS--No one in New Orleans is ever surprised by inefficiency, less so post-Katrina. So it was little surprise that the lines were long and the going slow at the New Orleans Arena for the premiere of Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke." Still, waiting to get some bottled water at the concession stand began to raise my hackles and then my anxiety. As line slowly neared the counter, I could see that the glass-fronted refrigerator was nearing empty. Just as it came my turn the last two bottles of Kentwood were swept away. I had a moment of panic: Four hours without water? How will I make it?

It was about then that I remembered that across Girod Street at the Superdome and 12 blocks away at the Convention Center, tens of thousands of my fellow New Orleanians waited four days for water. At that moment I got a little glimpse of how hard it is to grasp what the people of this city went through in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Then, with a bottle of water retrieved from somewhere now in hand, I went in to see Spike Lee's film and let him tell the rest of the story.

Tell it he does. Mesmerizingly, enthrallingly, spellbindingly, graphically, richly. Much of the story is there. In my line of vision, about half way back in the orchestra, with perhaps 2,000 of the 7,000 in attendance in my direct line of vision, I did not see one person budge. For 4.5 hours.

Much of the story is there, but of course not all. There is no question that Spike Lee slights by comparison the tragedy of white Lakeview and Lakeshore and Old Metairie and Uptown and Mid-City in favor of the more infamous horrors of the Lower Nine. There is no doubt that his sympathy for the suffering of blacks edges out his sympathy for whites. But, despite all expectation, this is not a race film, let alone a racist film. Spike Lee has risen to the occasion, and the occasion is the loss of the nation's most interesting city. Many of his talking heads are white, and their tales are respected just as completely.

Biggest surprise of all: Spike Lee tells the Katrina story fairly.

More
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=4cc460efad4faa9346c9bbe002e8cfc5