I started writing this blog after I saw two films: The Duchess (beautiful period costume drama starring Kiera Knightly & Raiff Fine) and most notably, the documentary about Hurricane Katrina (that wowed the critics) “Trouble the Water.” But the blog/review was so long that I shelved it. However, even after three weeks, I can not get the film “Trouble the Water” out of my mind. And so I decided to post my recap of one of the most wonderful documentary films I have ever seen. It was the most unique presentation of that tragedy I have ever experienced. It was heartfelt and honest. The beauty of this documentary was that unlike all of the previous coverage of Katrina, it put a face on the citizens of the 9th ward and of this disaster without preaching and without a barrage of statistics.
We follow Kim (our heroine) with her home camcorder, as she rides her bike through her neighborhood before the storm, while she watches (and shows us) the storm from inside her house, and the aftermath. We witness the shock, helplessness and sense of abandonment afterwards. But we also see hope and heroism and redemption as she and her husband Scott move on and start anew.
I read somewhere that she had just purchased the camera for twenty bucks from someone in the hood. The film opens with her riding her bike and visitding with her neighbors, all the while asking: “Are you staying? Are you scared? Some are heading out, but most are not assured that it’ll pass, they will stick it out and survive. Granted the mayor was on the teley asking everyone to evacuate but as Kim says: “I would go if I had wheels!” and the city did not offer any transport for those stranded. Now I can relate to this false sense of security because I sat on my couch during a tornado warning – complete with constant Emergency Alert System messages and sirens – “It’ll be okay.” I thought to myself. (See “emergency alert system” posted August 5th, 2008)
Kim notes the various states of neighbors. This one is in a wheelchair, that one is all alone or elderly, this one has a house full of little ones and the sky is still blue and the sun is still shining.
Then the sky grew angry and dark and the rain fell in torrents. The trees were shaking like cheerleader’s pom poms. We witness this first hand – as she does – via her camera. We get scared. Kim & Scott get scared. We know what is to come.
The waters rise fast. Kim has packed up food and emergency supplies in a cooler. Kim & Scott collect the elderly neighbor, her handicapped daughter, and a family of children and they move upstairs in the house but the water continues to rise and so they all assemble in the attic. But the waters are still rising. Kim & Scott’s two Rottweilers are left below, they can’t be housed in the attic with all of those children.
We hear a cell phone call to 911.
“Please help us, we are in the attic and the waters are reaching us!!”
The 911 operator tells them: “There will be no rescue units sent. Can you get to the roof? Break a hole to the roof?”
“We are trying but the wood is too strong. Please help us. Can you please send someone?”
911 Operator: “I am sorry. No rescue units can be sent in these conditions.”
“We’re just gonna die here?”
911 Operator: [pause] “yes”
Then they see (though an attic window) their neighbor Larry float by on a punching bag. They cry out for help. He floats over and they tell him the situation and he takes them all, two at a time to a house on higher ground to safety – the handicapped woman on his back. Now that’s the kind of hero we never heard about in all of the coverage of Katrina! I remember hearing about Sean Penn floating around rescuing folks in a power boat but never any inside story of neighbor helping neighbor. There is a beautiful moment after they all get to safety in which our hero Larry addreses the camera and says, even though the hurricane was a tragedy it gave him joy afterall because:
“I never thought God would have use for a guy like me.”
It still gives me shivers.
They get out and they – along with other survivors from the neighborhood – encounter all kinds of rejection, most notably from the abandoned naval base at the end of the block (which had hundreds of empty family barracks) where guards armed with loaded M16 rifles shooed them away. “We just need a place to stay for the night”
Scott procures a big truck to keep their little band together and we watch as he heads to the Superdome and decides against it. We all know about that place. They head to a relative’s home in Tennessee. We witness their struggle to get the promised aid from FEMA. We listen as they express the disappointment our fellow citizens feel towards the government. They are hurt and saddened by the treatment they are given by our government and we wonder: How? Why? No one seems to care.
They return to their neighborhood. It is a mess. There has been no clean up. Homes are left as they were and Kim wonders how many are dead and still in these dwellings. There is no sympathy. The National Guard eyes them with blank faces, or suspicion but no comfort. They sit at their posts, smoking cigarettes, keeping guard. Our friends Kim, Scott and new camrade (since the tragedy) Brian go through the hood. Kim starts to tell us of her childhood and her dreams to be a hip hop star. Her life was not easy. Her mother was addicted to crack and she and her little brother had to steal food, soap and whatever they needed from neighborhood stores to survive. Kim tells us that this history gives her insight into “the need” that shows in a child’s eyes and you can not help but be touched by her ability to empathize and care for others.
And then she performs “Amazing” It is a Hip Hop song she penned that spells out her life in the way only Hip Hop can: no chorus or romantic refrains to mix up or prolong the message. It is a spoken narrative, in the first person, given directly to us in her bedroom while she packs her bags. I read in a review that after this point in most film festivals, the audience gave a standing ovation. I was reduced to gulping and sobbing.
The end of this film follows Kim & Scott as they return home to New Orleans and regroup and rebuild their lives and they both agree that the hurricane gave them a real chance to start over. It is a positive and uplifting ending. The film was in Chicago for only one week. I am so happy that I caught it. I read a four star review from Roger Ebert and that is what motivated me to go see it. I strongly recommend that you rent or buy the DVD when it becomes available. It is one of those little films that proves to be so inspirational and moving. I can’t get it out of my mind.
