Review – When the Levees Broke

It’s Spike Lee versus Hurricane Katrina in this epic documentary produced for HBO. One suspects the combined clout of the director and his sponsor helped lure many of the politicians and other famous people who sit down for interviews. But the strongest interviews tend to be the ordinary people, the folks who have concrete slabs where houses used to be, the son of a woman who drowned after she wouldn’t leave her house, and so many other victims of the storm and its aftermath. Though it’s only half the length of Shoah – and fortunately nowhere near as boring – there’s a similar sense of epic tragedy here. Obviously there’s a time commitment involved in the viewing, but the expenditure is well rewarded. Worth seeing