I still find it difficult to talk about it. Any of you guys watched it? What do you think?

I haven't seen it yet, and am somewhat dubious on Spike in general since he tends to be heavy handed (singleton at his best is far superior, IMHO) in making his points, but the points about Katrina need to be made pretty strongly, so that I'd let slide. Then again, four hours, that's awful long.

Any more thoughts for those of us who haven't seen it yet, matteo?

Haven't seen it, but from what I've heard it's filled with lots of conspiracy talk that doesn't get backed up, which is too bad. Am I way off there?

To me it was better that I though it would be. It didn't really lean too much toward who's to blame. It was more factual from a human poit of view than anything else.

There was alot I didn't know politically. Like the "bed" underneath Mayor Nagin and Governor Blancos's beef.

Good stuff all around. More than a tear jerker..

Any more thoughts for those of us who haven't seen it yet, matteo?

at random, because it's dificult to organize one's thoughts after watching something so affecting.

as someone who grew up far away from your country and was taught to look at the USA as a nation that decided to do something (anything) and then, simply, did it, no matter the cost (kicking Hitler's ass, sending a bunch of guys to the moon, sending a toy car to Mars) well, I had this weird feeling -- it simply doesn't look like a documentary about something that happened in the USA. it looks like some Third World country, in Africa or somewhere. the huge area hit by the flood, the poverty, the incompetence/brutality of the government's response.

it simply doesn't fit with the image that most of us foreigners have of the USA. spooky.

the documentary itself is a masterpiece, like a longer (but, strangely, tighter) 4 Little Girls. he chose a dozen people and he follows them for a year, and he intercuts with perfectly chosen TV segments and interviews with experts. it's 4 hours, and I planned to watch only half, but you just don't split a Requiem in two

Spike Lee is, as of today, an indispensable American film maker

Jon,
I don't think I've ever disagreed with you more about anything than thinking that Singleton at his best is better than Spike, those dudes don't even live on the same planet.

I'm girding my mental loins to see it, I'm glad it sounds like it will be good.

I don't think I've ever disagreed with you more about anything than thinking that Singleton at his best is better than Spike, those dudes don't even live on the same planet.

Don't get me wrong, I like some of Spike's stuff, but sometimes I just want to scream 'show me, don't tell me,' at him, since his symbolism and use of filmic devices is often too obvious for my tastes. Whereas, Singleton in Boyz In The Hood managed to turn Doughboy, a character many people only encounter as a blurb on a police blotter, into a fully human, sympathetic character. But, again, that's a matter of taste, which there's no accounting for.

You gotta see bamboozled and even 25th hour, Spike has gotten a bunch better as a director, as opposed to a filmmaker.

The first two hours, dealing with the event itself, were more intense-as-in-bone-chilling than the second half, which dealt with the aftermath.

Full disclosure: Former New Orleans Resident, Liberal, Spike Lee Fan For Life. That said, to me, it did seem very factual and even handed, for those who share jonmc's Spike-itude concerns. I've heard that plenty, and while I dissagree, I do understand the point of view referenced. This did have more of a documentary feel. Of course documentaries have viewpoints too.

I encourage anyone to see it.

i guess i had an experience akin to matteo's viewing...because i watched all 4 hours at once. you really do try to just watch the first half once your invested in the documentary, but you cannot leave it unresolved, unwitnessed, unwatched. I recommend that this is something that should really be done in a 4-hour marathon.

i had honestly grown weary of spike lee's whole persona, branding, etc. it was about after 'girl 6' that i just couldn't follow him anymore. but with this documentary, he redeems himself completely. we see once again shots and conventions of old-school spike lee not seen since 'do the right thing'...and it is still pure genius, and even refreshing to see him blithly carry it off again.

the documentary was a perfect mix of interviews, site surveys, and footage of news coverage. they showed basically, in 4 acts, the inception of the storm and how people chose to 'ride-it-out' or abandon their homes. then they showed the evacuation. then the storm hit, the levees broke, the land was flooded, damage was done. Then the evacuation process, then the whole flub of FEMA and Bush/Homeland Security, etc...

Then the death, destruction, rescue teams. then the displacement, grief, broken spirits, of the survivors. then anger of FEMA's response. and finally a tiny glimmer of rebuilding with mardi gras 2006 footage.

spike lee was able to change my ingrained conceptions of how i acknowledge disasters: before i watched the film, i absolutely hated that people were comparing Katrina, a natural disaster, to a war or nuclear devastation, which are man-made disasters and inherently different. but after the documentary, i thought of the tornado's aftermath in a new way:

the surivors of katerina had no where to go, nowhere to return to. the land was devastated. to me, this was no different than the population displacements that happen after war and genocide. this was something quite brutal.

the aftermath of these people compared quite relevantly to those who had survived genocide. all records destroyed, pictures and family histories gone, belongings gone, houses gone, ancestors gone, etc...

also quite upsetting in the documentary was the acceptance/fear that the black population cannot afford to rebuild/move back to the north ward, and therefore the entire new orleans black culture (and creole culture) is at risk of dissapearing. (i think there were like 150k native new orleans survivors who have since settled into houston, texas, as well as 120k in like altanta, etc).