Act III, “When the Levees Broke,” by Spike Lee, aims to convey the aftermath of hurricane katrina. It gives accounts of the U.S. government’s response as well as that in the media and the devestation experienced by New Orleans residence.
I found particularly horrible the facade the media created when former president Bush came to survey the disaster of the aftermath of the hurricane. To create a semblance of a return, of rebuilding, the media basically prepared a set so that the president could speak in front of a building with lights, working electricity, as though the government had things under control and everything was returning to normal. The government might have benefitted from this propoganda, but the residents of New Orleans certainly did not, as one resident recalled feeling deceived and disappointed upon returning to this building with newfound hope at the prospect of it again being functional, only to discover that the electricity was temporary, for the president’s media appearance, and would not be maintained for the residents of New Orleans. The people of New Orleans grew to abhor the government’s apathy to their plight.
Another point that Spike Lee conveyed was the agony of displacement. While former president Bush’s mother acted like the rellocation of New Orleans residents “was some forward, upward mobility,” many residents felt otherwise. They identified themselves with the state of New Orleans and only longed to return. What further upset these people was the term the media used to refer to them, “refugees.” “We are calling on the media to stop calling them refugees… These are American citizens… and the connotation of refugees is others who need charity.”
A final point I wish to note is the utter devastation experienced by New Orleans residents, and a certain surrender to the futility of everything. People’s life’s work amounted to nothing once the hurricane swept through the town. It decimated everything they had invested themselves in, anything they identified with, and left them with nothing to come back to. Suicide became a viable option for people to escape the ravaged remains of nothing, and it is noted in this documentary that those who committed suicide in the aftermath, therefore, aught to be counted among hurricane victims. These people endured an unfathomable horror and were met with insufficient sympathy or aid.