I have long been under the impression that documentaries were supposed to, at the very least, appear to be objective in their coverage. Act III of Spike Lee’s documentary was clearly anything but. I do not recall having seen any of Lee’s films, thereby placing myself at a slight disadvantage for keen in-depth analysis.
It was clear that Lee had a very active intention of portraying the survivors of Hurricane Katrina as victims, and rightfully so. Lee, however, further developed his portrayal with a consistent barrage of coverage surrounding the assorted failures of the government on behalf of those affected most intensely by the disaster. He effectively vilified FEMA, its delayed responses, and its decision to gradually reduce the amount of coverage/aid provided several months later. Likewise, the administration received its fair share of cleverly spliced criticism, particularly the president and vice-president.
The facts were certainly on Lee’s side. Not only did Bush refuse to cut his vacation short (his total vacation time over the course of his two terms totaling over a year) to take charge of the situation on the ground, the vice president’s similarly delayed visit was likened to a pitiful attempt to simply ‘save face.’ Bush’s eventual speech, delivered from the affected region, was in and of itself a farce—the power in the area was turned on solely for this event, and was shut off once more shortly thereafter.
Lee succeeds in giving a voice to the people of New Orleans, one perhaps that is overly sensationalistic and arguably instigating in nature. Perhaps then, that was his underlying goal—to capture the attention of the nation in the precise manner in which it most frequently enjoys distributing said attention. Had that been the case, I suspect the film would have been made just slightly shorter. Spike Lee certainly wants to drive the point home, and drive the point home he does, with extensive coverage of the most outspoken of subjects interviewed, and seemingly little coverage of the less “boisterous” participants.