When The Levees Broke: (Spike Lee, 2006)
-
sherlockjr
- Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 12:34 am
- Location: Mississippi
Ste,
Enjoyed, and agreed, with your take on the response to Katrina. Anyone who says the non-response was racially motivated surely wasn't standing beside me in line for 10 hours for a bag of ice that never materialized. Nor were they helping me dump hundreds of dollars of food from my freezer or waiting by my side for 3 days before I could even get down my driveway. I'm white, by the way, but I shared my misery in southern Mississippi with folks of all colors and ages. When we did finally get our power back weeks later, most of us were shocked to find out we'd been "practically forgotten," or so it seemed, due to our race. Somehow, Kayne West's diatribe didn't exactly resonate with me, the local rednecks, or the blacks in the community for that matter.
Anyway, I truly love New Orleans, and after living 40 years in its sister city Memphis, I hear ya when you're talking about the "stale music" served to tourists, even though I do wholeheartedly believe that in both cities there's a thick slab of gritty, honest music served up to locals off the beaten track. (Perhaps more so in Memphis, though).
ReNew Orleans!
Enjoyed, and agreed, with your take on the response to Katrina. Anyone who says the non-response was racially motivated surely wasn't standing beside me in line for 10 hours for a bag of ice that never materialized. Nor were they helping me dump hundreds of dollars of food from my freezer or waiting by my side for 3 days before I could even get down my driveway. I'm white, by the way, but I shared my misery in southern Mississippi with folks of all colors and ages. When we did finally get our power back weeks later, most of us were shocked to find out we'd been "practically forgotten," or so it seemed, due to our race. Somehow, Kayne West's diatribe didn't exactly resonate with me, the local rednecks, or the blacks in the community for that matter.
Anyway, I truly love New Orleans, and after living 40 years in its sister city Memphis, I hear ya when you're talking about the "stale music" served to tourists, even though I do wholeheartedly believe that in both cities there's a thick slab of gritty, honest music served up to locals off the beaten track. (Perhaps more so in Memphis, though).
ReNew Orleans!
-
Ste
- Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:54 am
Thanks, Sherlock. Wise words there from the Magnolia State.
Please don't take this the wrong way (I feel all Katrina losses, great and small), but your post raises yet another issue in my ongoing you-know-what-really-grinds-my-gears series: the refrigerator situation.
Most of my friends live (or lived) in Uptown, a predominantly white, wealthy area of New Orleans that did not flood. (I am also white, btw.) To hear them speak, you'd think their worlds had come to an end because they had to clear out their refrigerators. Yes, it sucked. Yes, it was costly and inconvenient. But, Jesus Christ, people lost their fucking lives here!
A recent airline delay in Philadelphia caused me to overhear the horrific story of one Uptown resident whose outdoor plants had been completely ruined by Katrina. Oh, the humanity!
I know it's not a competition, but I lost approx. $100,000-worth of records and CDs (no kidding, I was a major collector of that stuff), countless books, my entire DVD collection, original artwork by some of rock's biggest names, my PC (incl. nine years' worth of writing), a state-of-the-art set of Arcam hi-fi separates, all my clothes, photographs, love letters from various exes, etc.
Check out my bedroom after the flood (what I can't convey is the stench):
I also had my job taken from me and given to my boss's husband. That was nice.
And yet I feel like one of the lucky ones; lucky to be alive. Know what I mean?
To switch tack, you're right about New Orleans' and Memphis' music scenes. I didn't mean to go off on Gordon about the jazz scene, and there are one or two decent roots artists here. Walter “Wolfmanâ€
Please don't take this the wrong way (I feel all Katrina losses, great and small), but your post raises yet another issue in my ongoing you-know-what-really-grinds-my-gears series: the refrigerator situation.
Most of my friends live (or lived) in Uptown, a predominantly white, wealthy area of New Orleans that did not flood. (I am also white, btw.) To hear them speak, you'd think their worlds had come to an end because they had to clear out their refrigerators. Yes, it sucked. Yes, it was costly and inconvenient. But, Jesus Christ, people lost their fucking lives here!
A recent airline delay in Philadelphia caused me to overhear the horrific story of one Uptown resident whose outdoor plants had been completely ruined by Katrina. Oh, the humanity!
I know it's not a competition, but I lost approx. $100,000-worth of records and CDs (no kidding, I was a major collector of that stuff), countless books, my entire DVD collection, original artwork by some of rock's biggest names, my PC (incl. nine years' worth of writing), a state-of-the-art set of Arcam hi-fi separates, all my clothes, photographs, love letters from various exes, etc.
Check out my bedroom after the flood (what I can't convey is the stench):
I also had my job taken from me and given to my boss's husband. That was nice.
And yet I feel like one of the lucky ones; lucky to be alive. Know what I mean?
To switch tack, you're right about New Orleans' and Memphis' music scenes. I didn't mean to go off on Gordon about the jazz scene, and there are one or two decent roots artists here. Walter “Wolfmanâ€
-
sherlockjr
- Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 12:34 am
- Location: Mississippi
Ste,
All points well taken. Couldn't agree more. No, I in no way took your comments the wrong way; I was only referring to the racial slant. In fact, my wife and I are the only folks in our community that didn't have physical damage of any kind. Only minor inconveniences. But even if we had, those still would have been minor compared to the suffering and losses of others. Call it survivor's guilt if you will, but we, like many people everywhere were compelled to do what we could to help. In or case, we became foster parents to a girl from what used to be Waveland.
I really do hate to hear about your losses as well. Though it wasn't loss of life, it surely was a loss of many "pieces" of yourself. Even with the help of a stiff upper lip, it HAS to be tough.
If you do move to Memphis, I'll be happy to give you some insider info.
Stanley
All points well taken. Couldn't agree more. No, I in no way took your comments the wrong way; I was only referring to the racial slant. In fact, my wife and I are the only folks in our community that didn't have physical damage of any kind. Only minor inconveniences. But even if we had, those still would have been minor compared to the suffering and losses of others. Call it survivor's guilt if you will, but we, like many people everywhere were compelled to do what we could to help. In or case, we became foster parents to a girl from what used to be Waveland.
I really do hate to hear about your losses as well. Though it wasn't loss of life, it surely was a loss of many "pieces" of yourself. Even with the help of a stiff upper lip, it HAS to be tough.
If you do move to Memphis, I'll be happy to give you some insider info.
Stanley
-
Ste
- Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:54 am
Stanley,sherlockjr wrote:In or case, we became foster parents to a girl from what used to be Waveland.
That's HUGE, man. You did what you could, rather than just watching it all on television, and that makes you a hero as far as I'm concerned. You've touched that girl's life in a way she will remember for the rest of her days. All power to you.
We have no immediate plans at the present time, just a vague "what if". If it were down to me, I'd leave tomorrow; I'm pretty much done with New Orleans. But my girlfriend has ties here -- family, work, etc. I'll surely be in touch if decisions are made.sherlockjr wrote:If you do move to Memphis, I'll be happy to give you some insider info.
Cheers,
Steve
-
colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 8:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Here's a Video Watchblog take on the documentary.
-
Polybius
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:57 am
- Location: Rollin' down Highway 41
Tim's very eloquent and dead on.
After watching this twice, the thing that sticks out in my mind most is the balance he maintains. He never goes too far down any one road in pursuit of a tangent, but he explores a lot of ground. There are many deeply personal moments (Blanchard's mother seeing their home for the first time is simply gut-wrenching, and the story the great Wendell Pierce tells about his father and the insurance representative is truly powerful) but he always keeps the overview in perspective.
That's long been a feature of Lee's scripts in his fictional films: pretty much everybody, who espouses every view, will get to state their case, in some way or another. Even John Turturro's loathsome racist son of Sal gets to make his case, to Sal privately, in Do The Right Thing.
He also has an astounding eye for the apt image. This film is full of them (the overturned cars still lining the streets, the Barbie with her hair spread out in an oil slick...)
Tim invokes Woodstock in that blog entry. I can see that, but more than anything else, this reminds me of The Sorrow and The Pity. I know that's a bold statement, but it's what I was thinking as I watched it. I'm not saying this will have the staying power of Ophuls' picture, but if I had to bet, I'd say it will. These issues aren't going away anytime soon.
After watching this twice, the thing that sticks out in my mind most is the balance he maintains. He never goes too far down any one road in pursuit of a tangent, but he explores a lot of ground. There are many deeply personal moments (Blanchard's mother seeing their home for the first time is simply gut-wrenching, and the story the great Wendell Pierce tells about his father and the insurance representative is truly powerful) but he always keeps the overview in perspective.
That's long been a feature of Lee's scripts in his fictional films: pretty much everybody, who espouses every view, will get to state their case, in some way or another. Even John Turturro's loathsome racist son of Sal gets to make his case, to Sal privately, in Do The Right Thing.
He also has an astounding eye for the apt image. This film is full of them (the overturned cars still lining the streets, the Barbie with her hair spread out in an oil slick...)
Tim invokes Woodstock in that blog entry. I can see that, but more than anything else, this reminds me of The Sorrow and The Pity. I know that's a bold statement, but it's what I was thinking as I watched it. I'm not saying this will have the staying power of Ophuls' picture, but if I had to bet, I'd say it will. These issues aren't going away anytime soon.
-
marty
I just watched this on DVD in one afternoon sitting. This is definitely one of Spike Lee's greatest achieveements. The documentary is extremely well structured, the editing is top-notch and the film is a moving account of the devastation of what happened to New Orleans due to the levees breaking after Hurricane Katrina. I was in New Orleans in December 1996 and I just checked the photos I took and see what a great city it really was and still is but not sure if it will ever be the same again. One of the most shocking things was how certain US media referred to the New Orleans fleeing the city into other parts of the US as REFUGEES when they were US citizens. That is unforgiveable.
This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.
This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.
-
Polybius
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:57 am
- Location: Rollin' down Highway 41
-
Antoine Doinel
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:22 pm
- Location: Montreal, Quebec
- Contact:
Spike Lee is planning a followup documentary.
-
Saarijas
- Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 7:03 pm
- Location: CT
Although I feel like making this film isn't gonna do any more good then the original. Being that no one particularly cared, and no one watched it, to the public Katrina is old news even though people are still dying from the aftermath because FEMA still doesn't have it's act together. But I would just rather see Spike Lee not re-do (per-se) a movie he has already done, but go back out and make a quality Spike Lee Joint, which to me he really hasn't done since Bamboozled (not to say 25th hour is bad, just not the Spike I love). But since it has Spike Lee's name on it I'll be buying the DVD once it comes out.