Hurricane Katrina in Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke

Press photograph of Spike Lee in 2007

Photo credit: Sbukley/Dreamstime.com

Meet the Director

Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Lee is a director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and professor. He directed the documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which won an Emmy and a Peabody Award. Although Spike Lee does not have strong ties to the South, where Katrina hit, his film highlights the issues surrounding it. The film focuses on more than the physical damage of the hurricane. Spike Lee directed the film with realism. He shows the injustice in America and problems with race, identity, and politics through his depiction of Hurricane Katrina. “Volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods. It’s not just New Orleans,” he said. “We should be scared because if FEMA — you saw what they did. Pray to God you don’t have to depend on FEMA. This stuff affects all Americans." This exemplifies the faith and trust he had in our federal emergency management agency--which was none. Fun Fact: Spike Lee used dolly shots to portray characters floating through their surroundings! 

Image of an overflowing levee in New Orleans

Photo credit: David J. Phillip

Act 1

By discussing Hurricane Katrina's approach and landfall, Act 1 establishes the scene by focusing on the events leading up to the storm and the initial response. It exemplifies how the levees failed even though they were meant to be a safeguard for the city. The levees, rather than the storm itself, were seen as a key to the primary cause of the damage.

Act 1 explores how vulnerable New Orleans was at the time. The infrastructure was aging and becoming unreliable. Some clips also document the failures surrounding FEMA and the Bush Administration to prepare and respond to Hurricane Katrina. It critiques the FEMA Director at the time, Mike Brown. In addition, Act 1 introduces a few of the residents featured throughout the documentary, who then go on to share their experiences during and after the storm. Furthermore, this act displays the mayhem and terror as the water conquered neighborhoods. This is a heartbreaking film that includes sorrowful firsthand testimonies from survivors. 

Image of destruction in Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina

Photo credit: David J. Phillip.

Act 2

This act focuses on the immediate aftermath and destruction of the storm. The act starts with residents expressing that they thought by Wednesday, August 31, the floodwaters would not clear out any time soon. The people rescued from being trapped in their homes were taken to the Superdome and Convention Center. However, it was overcrowded with residents and had no established norms. Lee shows the conditions of the Superdome and Convention Center and the stranded residents who were suffering. People tell the story of how they tried to leave New Orleans over the Crescent City Connection but were denied access by the armed guards who told them they were not allowed to “cross parish lines.” The police chief at the time, Eddie Compass, is shown getting emotional while discussing his frustrations towards not having enough resources, causing the police to be unable to help their fellow citizens. In addition, Act 2 highlights the local responses and the lack of federal and state aid. Lastly, this act captures and portrays people feeling abandoned and criticized for the disorganized and slow emergency responses.   

Photograph of a sign mocking FEMA

Photo credit: Dental Ben, Creative Commons

Act 3

Act 3 covers the government responses, the role the media played, and highlights the blame game in a political context. It dives into FEMA's failure to protect the citizens, focusing on President George Bush's administration, but also shines a light on local officials' offices. It is implied that Brown was used as a "scapegoat," held accountable for the errors made by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and that other prominent Washington officials, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, showed no interest during the storm. Others discuss the ineffectiveness of the mandatory evacuation on those who had no means of leaving the city safely, and it is noted that Mayor Ray Nagin chose to first meet with the city’s business owners when he was warned of the storm.

Act 3 also raises questions about race and social class, asking why certain communities were seen as suffering more than others. The documentary emphasizes the large number of people forced to leave New Orleans due to the flooding and the difficulties faced in trying to return home. In addition, this act displays the grief and heartache of the people who had to witness their homes being destroyed. There are some interviews with politicians and residents. It highlights the strength and resilience of the New Orleans community to overcome adversity. As a result, this act is considered to be deeply reflective. 

Image of Mississippi residents recovering personal items from their destroyed home

Photo credit: Barbara Davidson

Act 4

The last act focuses on the efforts of recovery and the long-term impact of Hurricane Katrina. Many of the residents were displaced from their homes and communities and spread across numerous states across the country. Families were separated, and people either couldn’t afford to return or found better opportunities in these new states. This act also explores themes of grief and resilience, focusing on some citizens who come back to their destroyed homes and find the courage and resources to call New Orleans home again. After Katrina, citizens have a general distrust of the Bush administration, especially  FEMA, because it took months for them to deliver the trailers and resources people desperately needed. Also, the Corps of Engineers gets criticized for knowing for forty years that the levees couldbn't stand a category 5 but doing nothing about it. There is a heavy focus on how New Orleans has had to recover both physically and culturally, even though systemic problems remain, and hurricane season is once again upon them. 

Connection to Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward 

The documentary starts with residents of New Orleans talking about hearing of Hurricane Katrina a few days before it hit. Most of the interviewees talk about having survived another hurricane or natural disaster without having to evacuate, so they weren’t that worried. In Salvage the Bones, Ward shows the eleven days before Katrina hits the Batiste family. In both instances, it shows the need to prepare just days before the storm makes landfall. Because of the time difference, Ward’s depiction is a little more focused on Esch and her family. The citizens of New Orleans probably weren’t that worried about Katrina eleven days ahead of her dropping and only realized how serious it was when it changed into a category 5 storm, much like in Ward’s depiction.

The documentary also touches on the fact that many people who were in the direct path of the hurricane refused to evacuate their homes, despite the mandatory evacuation. Most of these people had lived there for generations and did not want to leave their history behind. Much like in Salvage the Bones, where Esch and her family did not evacuate their home because of its history. It was on the plot of land their grandparents built, it was where her mother died, and it was where they grew up. Many of the people in the documentary tell stories of how generations ago, their family built their house and made a name for themselves, and that community became their home. Because of the personal connections that they had to their houses, individuals and families refused to evacuate in both cases.

The documentary recounts how those who did not leave faced the peak of the storm. As the floodwaters rose, people became trapped in their homes and had to go to the highest level. In Salvage the Bones, the members of the Batiste family have water coming up to their waists, and they have to go into the attic of their home so they don’t drown. In the documentary, people recall that house foundations moved and shook, water rose to places where they thought were beyond the reach of the water, or the conditions (hot temperatures, wet clothes, lack of food) would get so extreme that nowhere was safe.

Other Suggestions for Viewers 

Not Just the Levees Broke by Phyllis Montana-Leblanc is an excellent source for firsthand accounts. Phyllis herself is a driving force in Lee’s When the Levees Broke. Phyllis is a very outspoken interviewee, readily expressing her outrage and discontent with the government and how it handled Katrina. She is featured in all four parts of the documentary and has significant screen time as she vocalizes her opinions. In her memoir, she explores specifically what she and her husband had to go through leading up to Katrina, during the hurricane, and trying to recover in the aftermath.  

Words Whispered in the Water by Sandy Rosenthal is focused on the levees of New Orleans. This memoir focuses on Rosenthal's fight against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and explores its responsibility for the levees not being up to par. This is her account of discovering how aware the Corps was of the defective levees and how the agency handled the backlash. Rosenthal is also the founder of Levees.org, which is still an active site twenty years later and remains dedicated to remembering the flood and advocating for understanding why the levees broke.