Act III of the Spike Lee documentary, “When the Levees Broke” opens with a prayer recited by one hurricane Katrina’s victims. The angle of the documentary focuses on the hardships and cruelty that mother nature and the government placed upon the citizens of New Orleans. Spike Lee captures the devastating aftermath of the hurricane, houses no longer stand side by side instead they are caved in with huge “x”‘s on them with ruined reamains if any. Citizens were dispersed among the entire country because living conditions were not sufficient enough to stay in New Orleans. One of Lee’s main focuses was the president’s late response to this tragedy, rather then taking immidiate action president Bush arrived two weeks after hurricane Katrina had taken place.
Lee portrayed the government and media in a negative light, mainly showing that FEMA was no help to the citizens of New Orleans and that nothing has been done by the government to help restore the city back to its vibrant coulture and stature. One way tickets where given to citizens, which indicated that New Orleans did not want them coming back. Hotels were no longer being funded by FEMA which left citizens worrying what will happen next for them. Families were separated and had difficulty in reuiniting. While touring the Astrodome, Barbra Bush makes a comment saying that citizens were underpriliged before and “this is working well for them.” The media kept referring to the citizens of New Orleans as “refugees” which was insulting to the victims because they felt as though their citizenship got washed away with the hurricane.
Lee gave a little background history on what New Orleans was originally like and the intense culture it contained, then he focused on the present reality which is increased crime rate a failing education system and a city which needs a lot of work to rebuild its foundation. The excerpt from “When the Levees Broke” is an emo tionl account from those who have witnessed and survived the tragedy along with those who are against the “efforts” for reconstruction.