22 August 2006

The girl and I watched parts 1 & 2 of Spike Lee's four-part HBO documentary on Hurricane Katrina last night, called "WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS."

I was a bit skeptical...I was bracing for a Michael Moore-esque examination of the tragedy. I was waiting for it to be manipulative, inflammatory and heavy-handed -- an excuse for the right to dismiss it as meaningless anti-Bush propaganda (to dismiss this work would have been--in itself--a tragedy.)

So far, it is masterful. We heard stories from victims all across the racial and socio-economic strata: black, white, young, old, rich, poor. (This, despite the fact that the storm affected poor blacks disproportionately.)

Lee also (I think) wisely realized he didn't need to "sex up" his documentary -- the images, the stories, the pain, the desperation, the frustration, the helplessness, the guilt that we, as Americans, feel over this tragedy--is powerful enough without having to embellish it. And the point came across loud and clear: our government (on ALL levels) let the people of New Orleans people down, it's utterly unforgiveable, and we must never forget it.

The only thing I found a little indulgent was Spike including Harry Belafonte in the documentary. He has little personal connection to Katrina and New Orleans -- but he was included because he's a visceral and high-profile Bush hater. To be sure, Bush and Brownie and Chertoff are easy targets and deserve to be ripped to shreds. But I felt it would have been more effective to have an actual resident (or at least someone less polarizing) slam the Bush administration for their ineptitude. It's like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly. (Conversely, I thought Michael Eric Dyson's contributions to the documentary were brilliant.)

((Belafonte--if your mind needs refreshing-- has called Bush "the world's greatest terrorist," compared Bush to Hitler, is a vocal advocate for socialism, and has befriended anti-American world figures such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. He's also called Colin Powell and Condi Rice "house slaves." Look, I am NO fan of Bush--and Belafonte has made major contributions to the civil rights movement and should be hailed for that--but I think he's totally marginalized himself with some of his crazy and irresponsible tirades of recent years. Belafonte has an audience, to be sure--but I feel it's outside the mainstream.))

I find it interesting that I'm not at all ready to watch any of the 9/11 retrospectives and movies out there--but I can't get enough of the Katrina One Year Later specials. It's still raw--it's still painful--but I feel strongly about watching these specials and ripping "the band-aid" off. I guess the event just exposed -- for all the world too see--the racial and socio-economic ills of this country and the utter fecklessness of our government.

I also wonder about the political impact of these documentaries/retrospectives heading into the mid-term elections. It's a devastating portrayal of the Bush administration.