Katrina: The Documentary
And at the helm is none other than Spike Lee, who was already riding high this year with Inside Man (which was pretty cool for those of you who haven’t seen it. And for those who have, was I the only one who was appalled by the footage of 50 Cent’s Bulletproof video game featured in the film? Its explicitly racialized violence, which games like Grand Theft Auto only hinted at, achieves a new low in mediated repugnance that I’m genuinely shocked any halfway conscious person could enjoy. But that’s a whole ‘nother post . . .) When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts will be shown on HBO this month, for those that get it, so check it out if you can and let the rest of us know if it’s worth watching. This is Lee’s third documentary; his 1997 joint 4 Little Girls chronicled the Birmingham church bombing of 1963, and 2002’s Jim Brown: All-American feted the legendary sports star, actor, and community activist. Opinions on either of those would be welcome as well, as I haven’t seen either.
While we’re on the subject of Katrina, one of the only positive (if you can really call it that) outcomes amidst all the death, destruction and displacement was the temporary prevalence of working-class black voices all over the mainstream media. The major cable news networks, newspapers, and NPR all allowed New Orleanians to tell their stories, and it was particularly striking on the radio, where their frictionless patois could reify and authenticate the story far better than some big-city reporter. I loved hearing it—it was serious, impassioned, intelligent, evocative, extremely vivid, and absolutely riveting. I just wish it didn’t take a catastrophe for the major news outlets to pass the mic to one of the forgotten ones now and again.
Published on August 3, 2006 at 9:41 pm.
12 Comments.
Filed under racism, news/politics, television.
