When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts 

An examination of the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Stars:

Darleen Asevedo, Jay Asevedo, Shelton Shakespear Alexander

Won 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Darleen Asevedo	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Jay Asevedo	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Shelton Shakespear Alexander	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Lee Arnold	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Gralen Bryant Banks	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
John Barry	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Robert Bea	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Harry Belafonte	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Wilhelmina Blanchard	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Terence Blanchard	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Kathleen Blanco	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Douglas Brinkley	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Joseph Bruno	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Karen Carter	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Louis Cataldie	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Judith Morgan	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Cheryl Livaudais	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Will Chittenden	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Eddie Compass	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Harry Cook	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Sarah Dean	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Petri Laurimaa	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Emil Dumesnil	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Michael Eric Dyson	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Felton Earls	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Paris Ervin	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Sylvester Francis	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Herbert Freeman Jr.	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Dale Girard	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Louella P. Givens	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Anita Gupta	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Glenn Hall	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Josephine Butler	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Donald Harrison	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Darnell Herrington	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Corey Hebert	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Damon Hewitt	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Freddie Hicks	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Justin Hite	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Fred Johnson	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Michael Katz	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Michael Knight	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Mitch Landrieu	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Phyllis Montana LeBlanc	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Trymaine Lee	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Brendan Loy	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Calvin Mackie	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Ben Marble	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Wynton Marsalis	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Kevin A. Martin	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Hassan Mashriqui	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Audrey Mason	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Betty McHale	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Charles McHale	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
David Meeks	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Joseph Melancon	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Gina Montana	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Henry Morgan	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Marc H. Morial	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Arthur Morrell	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Joycelynn Moses	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Anthony Dunn	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Ray Nagin	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Linda Novak	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Soledad O'Brien	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Sean Penn	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Bennie Pete	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Wendell Pierce	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Kimberly Polk	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
James Pullings Jr.	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Garland Robinette	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Robert Rocque	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Junior Rodriguez	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Daina Saulny	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Michael Scott Schlacter	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Jeffrey David Schultz	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Jay Scully	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Mike Seelig	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Lewis Setliff III	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Al Sharpton	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Brian Thevenot	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Charley Varley	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Ivor Van Heerden	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Elder William Walker Jr.	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Rhonda Washington	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Kanye West	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Roy Williams	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Lois Armstrong	...	Herself - CNN anchor 2 episodes, 2006
Chirrie Harris	...	Herself - Interviwee 2 episodes, 2006
Tanya Harris	...	Herself - Interviwee 2 episodes, 2006
Florence Jackson	...	Herself 2 episodes, 2006
Shawn Kael	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2006
Douglas Kiesling	...	Himself - Weather Paparazzi & Major Katrina Stock Footage Source 2 episodes, 2006
Michael Brown	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
Barbara Bush	...	Herself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
Dick Cheney	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
Anderson Cooper	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
Russel Honore	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
Mike Myers	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
Betty Nguyen	...	Herself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006
Condoleezza Rice	...	Herself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 2006

Storyline

In August 2005, the American city of New Orleans was struck by the powerful Hurricane Katrina. Although the storm was damaging by itself, that was not the true disaster. That happened when the city's flooding safeguards like levees failed and put most of the city, which is largely below sea level, underwater. This film covers that disastrous series of events that devastated the city and its people. Furthermore, the gross incompetence of the various governments and the powerful from the local to the federal level is examined to show how the poor and underprivileged of New Orleans were mistreated in this grand calamity and still ignored today.

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Plot Keywords:

hurricane | government | hurricane katrina | incompetence | flooding | 

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Taglines:

An American Tragedy

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

HBO [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

When the Levees Broke

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Documentary Films,40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

255 min (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Unlike most of Spike Lee's films, this does not feature his customary titling "A Spike Lee Joint."

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Connections

Referenced in The Boondocks: Invasion of the Katrinians (2007)

User Reviews

Native New Orleanian: see this movie!

I saw this four-hour documentary here in the city, in an arena with about 8000 other locals (I was born and raised here and this is my first visit since Katrina). It was beautiful and had me crying from the opening montage, with the incredibly beautiful New Orleans music and Blanchard's haunting score. The point of the movie seemed to me to document the horrors and outrages that the human beings in the NOLA area had to survive (as Lee said introducing the movie, be sure you have a box of Kleenex), as well as their inimitable humor and love of life that has so far been the ONLY thing to sustain the city. In the nightmare aftermath of insurance ripoffs, government incompetence and stinginess, and frequent scorn and betrayal by other "Americans," we New Orleanians now know that we have NOBODY to rely on but ourselves and each other. And after watching this movie, I am beginning to have faith that that might actually be enough. Because we are strong, resourceful, loving, fun, proud, badass people. And to his enormous credit, Spike Lee totally gets us and has really captured the soul of the city itself: its priceless daughters and sons. All of us.

Our local rag, the Times-Picayune, published a racist and misleading review of the movie on the day it was going to be screened, basically saying it only portrayed the black experience of Katrina, whatever that means. Many white people I know didn't want to see it, based on this, which is a horrible mistake. Some of Lee's movies are provocative representations of race relations; this one IS NOT, or at least, not in that sense. Please don't fall for that--the documentary shows many different views, and of course not all "black" views are the same either, as we see, for example, in the astute critique of Condi Rice's shoe shopping jaunt. Racism is certainly an issue in discussing Katrina, but this movie doesn't endorse divisiveness at all.

I think we in the US, or at least in NOLA, ought to know better than to think that we can only relate to people who look like us. I wept for and laughed and cheered almost all the interviewees in the movie, whatever their skin color. The white women in St. Bernard and the black folks from the Lower Nine, the white guy from Uptown and the creoles from around the city. Even the rich couple from Park Island, who reminded my husband of Lovey and Thuston Howell. We are all affected by the events of Katrina, not in the same ways, but that's why this movie can help us. We can see many different Katrina stories and get a bit more sense of the scope and scale of this disaster. I grew up in Gentilly Woods so I identified most with the family in Pontchartrain Park, a few blocks north, even though I'm white and they're black. Go figure.

The bigger point is, white people need to stop freaking out about race and whether NOLA is a "chocolate city" or not, and look at the real problems: the wetlands, the federal, state, and local neglect of the levees, and the problems that preceded: education, economy, infrastructure. Those affect everyone in the city, and people outside NOLA should take heed, these are not just our problems either. This could happen to you.