Spike's Katrina

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

After watching the city get ravaged by the storm, Lee spent a year filming a wrenching four-hour 'Requiem' for New Orleans.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14322933/

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On the day that Katrina began pummeling New Orleans, Lee was at a film festival in Venice—Italy's own sinking jewel of a city—and he never left his hotel room. "I just sat there glued to the TV," he said back in May as he drove through New Orleans with a NEWSWEEK reporter, scouting voting sites to film during the city's upcoming mayoral election. "I just couldn't believe this was happening right now in America. It was one of those moments where you know someone will ask you years from now, 'Where were you when Katrina happened?' " Instantly, Lee knew he'd make a documentary about the catastrophe, so he called HBO, his partner on two previous docs: the Oscar-nominated "4 Little Girls," about the deadly 1963 African-American church bombing; and his 2002 biography, "Jim Brown: All American." HBO handed him $1 million for a two-hour film, which quickly ballooned to three, then four hours, doubling the budget. "We've never had a four-hour documentary," says Sheila Nevins, HBO's president of documentaries and family programming. "But we could tell early on that the story needed more time."

Still, the Bush administration takes plenty of lumps—especially Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose Manhattan shoe-shopping trip while New Orleans drowned is recalled in vivid detail. Lee says he spent months searching for the woman who approached Rice in a Ferragamo store and chastised her for her insensitivity. "I did my best to find her—talking about her in the media, hoping she'd see it or somebody would tell her," he says, "but I don't think she wanted to be found." (Lee has joked that she's probably in Guantánamo Bay.) In her place, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the social critic and author Michael Eric Dyson take turns chopping down Rice. "I knew that what I had to say about this administration would see the light of day with Spike," says Sharpton. "Many times the mainstream news will cut you off when you have something negative to say about the White House. This documentary will make up for all those times."

The film's most provocative sequence doesn't involve any specific finger-pointing. In Act II, Lee gives voice to the alarmingly popular notion in New Orleans that the levee system was intentionally dynamited—the idea being to preserve the city's wealthiest wards by flooding its most blighted. Several people who live near the levees claim in the film to have heard loud explosions in the midst of the storm; engineers insist that they were just hearing the levees give way naturally. Lee himself refuses to take sides. "I'm not saying it's true or not true," he says. "I'm saying that many people who lived through Katrina believe it, and that shouldn't be overlooked. And given the history of African-Americans in this country, from slavery to the Tuskegee Experiment, it's not that farfetched." (Especially considering that it has happened before—during the 1927 Great Flood of Mississippi.)

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[babylonsister]

1. I am looking forward to seeing Lee's documentary. I'm sure it's

going to be anathema to this admin.

[MadMaddie]

2. I agree....

I will be watching it with pure anger over the callousness this administration handled the disaster!

[babylonsister]

4. Recommend for Spike, outrage, and HBO for showing it! nt

[jobycom]

3. Thank you, Spike Lee. nt

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

6. Looking forward to seeing it as well. My parents saw him when

they were on a vacation in DC quite a few years ago. He was just hanging out (can't recall where), and people were like, "There's Spike Lee!" I think he may have been embarassed or perhaps he didn't want to be recognized. Very talented guy.

[calimary]

5. His first film of note was "Do the Right Thing." Looks like that's what

he's still doing.

And chopping contradicta TOO? Oh, be still my heart!!!

Love you, Spike!

[politicasista]

7. Looking forward to seeing this

Rev. Al's quote is right on the money.

"Many times the mainstream news will cut you off when you have something negative to say about the White House. This documentary will make up for all those times."

:applause:

[babylonsister]

8. The more I see/hear Reverend Al, the more I like him! He's nothing

if not consistent and truth-talking!

[politicasista]

9. Absoultely n/t