If Spike Lee’s point of view in When The Levees Broke is lost on anyone, he/she must not have been paying very much attention. From the images of destruction and devastation, to the stories of loss and utter depression and resentment towards the government, it is clear that Lee wants his audience to see that the victims of Hurricane Katrina have been slighted not only by the disaster, but the aftermath as well.
The documentary places emphasis on personal anecdotes, “experts”, close-ups of tired, forlorn faces and near-prophetic words, like the little old woman who says she will not be drowned and will not leave New Orleans, no matter how hard a Category 5 hurricane (“the government”) tries to kill her. Others echo her sentiments, stating that New Orleans is the only home they’ve ever known and that their roots run deep in the place, suggesting that the hurricane/government was audacious to even suggest that they leave.
Then there is the rescue effort, or lack thereof, stemming from the highest authority, the government. Lee paints the audience a picture of a ghost town, neglected by FEMA, abandoned by its former residents, thoroughly ignored by a President who chooses to remain on vacation instead of tending to the disaster. There are the careless and uninterested house checks of rescue workers, with the explanation of the marking system for houses delivered, ironically, in detail and to a somber soundtrack. Black people stand in front of their destroyed homes, staring into the camera; Lee cuts to a prominent white government figure standing in front of his untouched house with its immaculate green lawn and fancy porch.
The overall effect is the message that African-Americans are still treated as second-class citizens in a country of which they are citizens, especially when it seems as if the government’s response to the hurricane was deliberately slow and ineffective.