When the Levees Broke | |
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![]() The logo for the documentary, depicting a damaged New Orleans street sign. | |
Directed by | Spike Lee |
Theme music composer | Terence Blanchard |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Producers | Spike Lee Samuel D. Pollard |
Cinematography | Cliff Charles |
Editors | Geeta Gandbhir Nancy Novack Samuel D. Pollard |
Running time | 255 minutes |
Production company | 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks |
Budget | US$2 million |
Original release | |
Network | HBO |
Release | August 16, 2006 |
Related | |
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. It was filmed in late August and early September 2005, and premiered at the New Orleans Arena on August 16, 2006 and was first aired on HBO the following week. The television premiere aired in two parts on August 21 and 22, 2006 on HBO. It has been described by Sheila Nevins, chief of HBO's documentary unit, as "one of the most important films HBO has ever made." [1] The title is a reference to the blues tune "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
The documentary was screened at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival on August 31 and September 1, 2006. It won the Orizzonti Documentary Prize and one of two FIPRESCI awards. It was also shown at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival on September 15 and September 16, 2006. It won three awards at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards and received a Peabody Award. [2]
The documentary is based on news video footage and still photos of Katrina and its aftermath, interspersed with interviews. Interviewees include politicians, journalists, historians, engineers, and many residents of various parts of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, who give first hand accounts of their experiences with the levee failures and the aftermath.
In the style of Michael Apted's Up series (a documentary series that interviews Apted's subjects every seven years), Lee planned to interview his featured subjects in Levees at least once more. [3] In August 2010, HBO aired Lee's documentary series, If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise , which chronicles how New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area have fared in the five years following Hurricane Katrina.
The film focuses on the changed lives of New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina hit. The film shows residents in the midst of disaster dealing with death, devastation and disease. Spike Lee said about the film:
New Orleans is fighting for its life. These are not people who will disappear quietly — they're accustomed to hardship and slights, and they'll fight for New Orleans. This film will showcase the struggle for New Orleans by focusing on the profound loss, as well as the indomitable spirit of New Orleaneans. [4]
This documentary is Spike Lee's third, preceded by 4 Little Girls (1997), about the Birmingham church bombing of 1963; and Jim Brown: All-American (2002), about the football player.
Shooting for the film began three months after Hurricane Katrina hit, when Lee and his camera crew took the first of eight trips to New Orleans. They conducted interviews and taped footage for the film. Lee hoped to hear varying opinions of the storm and responses to the storm's destruction. He interviewed nearly 100 people of diverse backgrounds and opinions for his film.
People appearing in interviews include:[ citation needed ]
The first installment opens with a photo and film montage of historic and recent New Orleans scenes, with a soundtrack of Louis Armstrong performing Louis Alter's "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans". At the end of the last episode is a similar montage with Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans" on the soundtrack.
The film's original score is by Terence Blanchard, a New Orleans-born trumpeter who appears in the film, with his mother and aunt, as they return to their flooded home. Not being the first time that Terence Blanchard had worked as a composer for a film by Spike Lee, Blanchard had worked to create compositions of a more universal genre of jazz as opposed to New Orleans style jazz in order to reach masses of audiences to raise awareness of the results of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In general, the music he had composed was written under the context of respecting those who were directly affected by the catastrophe and with intentions of providing contexts to allow audiences to sympathize with those affected. [6]
When the Levees Broke won three Emmy Awards: Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, and Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming.
It received a 2006 Peabody Award from the University of Georgia for being an "epic document of destruction and broken promises and a profound work of art" and "an uncompromising analysis of the events that precede and follow Hurricane Katrina's assault on New Orleans" that "tells the story with an unparalleled diversity of voices and sources." [7]
It won the 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. At the 63rd Venice International Film Festival the film was awarded the Horizons award in the documentary category. The film was also selected as part of the 2008 Whitney Biennial.
![]() | This section possibly contains original research .(March 2011) |
The film focuses on the suffering of those affected by the disaster and their will to survive. Additionally, it suggests that the disaster in New Orleans was preventable, caused by levees poorly designed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the suffering afterward was compounded by failures at all levels of government, most severely at the State level. These points are in line with mainstream investigations, including the bipartisan U.S. Congressional report, A Failure of Initiative, and the Army Corps of Engineers' own studies. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Mitchell Joseph Landrieu is an American lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2010.
The Lower Ninth Ward is a neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. As the name implies, it is part of the 9th Ward of New Orleans. The Lower Ninth Ward is often thought of as the entire area within New Orleans downriver of the Industrial Canal; however, the City Planning Commission divides this area into the Lower Ninth Ward and Holy Cross neighborhoods.
On Monday, August 29, 2005, there were over 50 failures of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and its suburbs following passage of Hurricane Katrina. The failures caused flooding in 80% of New Orleans and all of St. Bernard Parish. In New Orleans alone, 134,000 housing units — 70% of all occupied units — suffered damage from Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding.
Charles Garland Robinette is a journalist in the New Orleans area. He was recently the host of "The Think Tank" on New Orleans radio station WWL (AM).
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American trumpeter, pianist and composer. A jazz musician, he has also composed film scores and operas. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed on more than fifty. A frequent collaborator with director Spike Lee, he has been nominated for two Academy Awards for composing the scores for Lee's films BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods (2020). He has won five Grammy Awards from fourteen nominations.
Derrick Hodge is an American composer, musical director, bandleader, producer bassist and advocate. To date he has been awarded two Grammys, named a Sundance Composer Fellow, received a Motif Award; one of world's highest honors for Child Advocacy, and his playing on Common's BE has been recognized as one of top 20 basslines in Hip Hop History.
Brendan Loy is an American blogger, husband, and father of three.
Henry Joseph Rodriguez, Jr., known as Junior Rodriguez, was an American politician from St. Bernard Parish in the Greater New Orleans section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. He was of Isleño descent and was registered as an Independent. He served as Councilmember on the St. Bernard Parish Council from 1976 to 2004 and as President of the St. Bernard Parish Council, from 2004 to 2008. St. Bernard Parish is a Louisiana Parish that is adjacent to New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood.
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell is an African-American teacher, a former school administrator, and a Democratic politician from New Orleans, Louisiana. She served on the New Orleans City Council from 2005 to 2014.
Karen Carter Peterson is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a member of the Louisiana State House from 1999 to 2010, then as the state senator from the 5th district until her resignation in 2022. She also served as the chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party from 2012 to 2020, becoming the first female chair of the state party. In 2008, Peterson became as Democratic National Committeewoman for Louisiana. In 2017, Peterson was elected vice chair of civic engagement and voter participation for the Democratic National Committee.
Dinerral Jevone "Dick" Shavers was an American jazz drummer and educator from New Orleans, Louisiana, who was best known as a member of the Hot 8 Brass Band.
Calvin Mackie is an American motivational speaker and entrepreneur. He is the older brother of actor Anthony Mackie.
A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina) is a studio album recorded in 2007 by the Terence Blanchard Quintet. The album was originally released on August 14, 2007 by Blue Note Records.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is involved with a wide spectrum of public works projects: environmental protection, water supply, recreation, flood damage and reduction, beach nourishment, homeland security, military construction, and support to other Governmental agencies. In nineteen (19) different Flood Control Acts since 1917, the United States Congress has authorized the corps to design and build flood protection projects and one risk reduction system in the Greater New Orleans area and throughout the nation.
The Standard Project Hurricane, or SPH, was the initial model used to determine how strong the hurricane protection system should be in order to protect the New Orleans, Louisiana area from flooding due to hurricanes.
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, is a 2008 documentary film directed by Dawn Logsdon and written by Lolis Eric Elie. Featuring a cast of local musicians, artists and writers, the film relates the history of New Orleans' Tremé neighborhood.
If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise is a 2010 documentary film directed by Spike Lee, as a follow-up to his 2006 HBO documentary film, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. The film looks into the proceeding years since Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans and Gulf Coast region, and also focuses on the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its effect on the men and women who work along the shores of the gulf. Many of the participants in Levees were also featured in this documentary.
Sandy Rosenthal is an American civic activist and founder of Levees.Org, an organization created in October 2005 to educate the American public about the cause of the levee failures and catastrophic flooding in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
Alexander Glustrom is an American film director and cinematographer. He has directed award winning films and shot projects for HBO, CNN, New York Times, A&E, Vice, Great Big Story, and Democracy Now. He currently works as a cinematographer on commercials, films and tv shows.
Katrina Babies is a 2022 documentary film, directed by Edward Buckles Jr. It explores the narratives of kids who experienced Hurricane Katrina and the impact of the storm’s aftermath on New Orleans youth. It premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 14, 2022 and was released on HBO Max on August 24, 2022.