In the documentary entitled When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee presents the story of Hurricane Katrina and its dire affects on New Orleans, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and stranded to fight on their own. One of the scenes that stayed with me was during the first Act where the wind and rain subside and the humidity begins to infringe. Here, the people of New Orleans find themselves completely stranded in the 95+ degree weather with little to no food, water or medical attention. This scene in part with the interview where a woman describes how 911 was not accepting an calls are what really made me understand just how bad the situation had been in New Orleans.
Growing up I really had no idea of how badly the people were effected, especially those whom survived the Hurricane and were left to die. These scenes really proved to me just how illustrating the documentary was as a whole. Where after such a horrible disaster has occurred, the people in the US, our OWN people, are left with nothing. It takes days for teams to get in and start rescuing people, by which time more have died from things such as dehydration and starvation. These people who were supposed to be evacuated as promised were abandoned, and then told they would be killed if they tried to cross the bridge out of New Orleans to safety. And even during this time, so of the most important US leaders were out on vacation and shopping, doing LITTLE to help the horrible situation that was occurring. I couldn't even imagine the pain as an audience member that these people were feeling, however I can understand it. These interviews and stories by Spike Lee really help the viewer understand how the majority of the Victims had been African American who hadn't had the money or resources to evacuate. When we think of the United States we think of how good we have been at pulling together and helping our people such as in 911. In this documentary we are painted a picture of just how little the government helped these people they had essentially abandoned to begin with.
I agree that I had known little about Hurricane Katrina before watching Spike Lee's documentary. This event occurred when many of us were still young, or paid little attention to the news. However, the news did frame most of the stories released to the public. Many of these interviews that Spike Lee held for this documentary were not the same accounts the news presented to the public. He did interview one news reporter, but even her account was only through one station. So not only was the government to blame for the lack of help in New Orleans, but also the media's attention and concentration on events happening there. Today, I believe the media has gotten very good at paying attention to important issues until they gain national attention (and government attention). I'm curious if this same type of situation would occur in today's digital world.
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