When the Levees Broke (2006)
HBO

Description

One year after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, director Spike Lee presents a four-hour, four-part chronicle recounting, through words and images, one of our country?s most profound natural disasters. In addition to revisiting the hours leading up to the arrival of Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane before it hit the coast of Louisiana, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts tells the personal stories of those who lived to tell about it, at the same time exploring the underbelly of a nation where the divide along race and class lines has never been more pronounced.

Tags

2000s, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Empire

The people do the talking in this rage-fuelled doc and only the stone hearted will fail to be moved by the resilience of the affected and the inaction of their government.
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10 Entertainment Weekly | Alynda Wheat

With all due respect to Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, Inside Man, and the rest of Lee's estimable filmography, When the Levees Broke may be the most evocative, deftly told, and important four hours to his credit.
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10 digitallyobsessed.com | Jon Danziger

A deeply moving, carefully told, and necessary account of the worst natural disaster in our country's history.
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10 DVD Talk | Bill Gibron

Something this important deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. We nearly lost New Orleans 16 months ago. Here's hoping that Spike Lee's motion picture masterpiece shames some people into finally trying to fix things – before it really is too late.
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9.6 DVD Verdict | Adam Arseneau

When the Levee Broke is a show-stopping achievement. It is both a triumph for director Spike Lee and a rousing testimony to the people affected by Hurricane Katrina.
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9.0 Variety | Joe Leydon

Lee takes time to explain the stories behind the stories, to unearth revealing details under-reported in other accounts, and to identify individuals among the faceless masses of unfortunates.
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9.0 Washington Post | Lynne Duke

It is the anger that cuts deepest - a righteous, laser-focused anger born of betrayal, laced with sadness, a rumbling anger that pumps like blood through the veins of Spike Lee's masterly Katrina documentary.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

When the Levees Broke - A Requiem in Four Acts documentary is one of the most touching documentaries I have ever seen.
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8.0 New York Times | Stephen Holden

What breaks your heart is the film’s accumulated firsthand stories of New Orleans residents who lost everything in the flood after Hurricane Katrina, and the dismaying conclusion that a year after the disaster, the broken city has been largely abandoned to fend for itself.
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