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‘When the Levees Broke’ eloquent, heartbreaking
Film provides inside look at aftermath of Katrina
By Christy Brownfield
The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina came to the UWM Theatre Oct. 17 with a screening of Sam Pollard and Spike Lee’s “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.”
People packed in, lining the back and side walls for a chance to see this moving documentary. The Sociocultural Programming, Community Media Project and UWM Film Department co-sponsored the screening, and Pollard himself was in attendance to answer questions and present the documentary.
Pollard is an Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, director and editor, and associate professor of film and television at New York University. He has collaborated with Lee on a number of projects including “Bamboozled,” “4 Little Girls” and “Clockers.”
“Spike was initially given a go-ahead for a two-hour film [by HBO],” according to Pollard, “but it could not be shot in two hours. It is too big and too powerful to be shot in two hours.”
Pollard and crew shot over 500 hours of footage and conducted over 119 interviews.
When asked on how willing people were to open up, Pollard replied, “People really just wanted to release.”
The film, “A Requiem in Four Acts,” chronicles the story of Hurricane Katrina from before the storm to its aftermath. Much of the uncensored footage goes beyond anything seen on the news.
Footage from inside the Superdome showed the filth people lived in for five days straight, much of that time without food or water. When the electricity went out, the toilets stopped flushing and began to overflow — the stench was overwhelming and only amplified by the heat, upwards of 95 degrees.
Interviews ranged from well-known figures including Harry Belafonte, Ray Nagin and Sean Penn, to New Orleans victims Phyllis Montana LeBlanc and Shelton "Shakespeare" Alexander.
Perhaps the most moving interview was with a man whose elderly mother died while staying at the Superdome. Officials made the man leave his mother in her wheelchair outside the stadium. He was only able to write his contact information on a piece of paper, and leave it in her dead hand. When the busses finally arrived, the man was not given the opportunity to go back one last time to see his mom.
The images of “When the Levees Broke” were both shocking and heartbreaking. Not one person talked during scenes of dead bodies in the sun along the interstate.
Pollard described his work as a “document of American history.”
Hurricane Katrina will likely become a dark spot on the U.S. timeline, but eloquently remembered thanks to Lee and Pollard. When the DVD is released, an extra hour-and-a-half of footage will be included, titled “Act V.”
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