TROUBLE THE WATER (Lessin and Deal, 2008)
Zeitgeist Films, DVD, Release Date Aug 25, 2009
Review by Christopher S. Long
(An edited, updated re-post of my 2009 review of what I still consider to be the best of many fine documentaries about Hurricane Katrina.)
Nothing is real in cinema! The minute
you choose what to film and not to film you are creating fiction.
Editing is manipulation. Even a documentary is crafted into a
narrative form so it’s really fiction.
None of that is entirely wrong, but it
entirely misses the point.
For all the critical and theoretical
hand-wringing about the difference between truth and fiction in
cinema, and the possible lack thereof, the power of many (not all)
documentaries stems quite simply from the fact that they refer to
real events. However manipulated it might be, documentary cinema
carries a specific power that fiction only occasionally achieves.
Bill Nichols calls it the indexical whammy, the recognition by the
viewer that the sounds and images in the movie “really happened.”
This whammy powers the core of “Trouble
the Water” (2008), one of the most emotionally wrenching
documentaries I have ever seen. Though the film is directed by the
team of Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, the most mesmerizing footage is
that taken by New Orleans 9th Ward resident and aspiring
rapper Kimberly Rivers Roberts. Roberts turns on her video camera in
the days ahead of Hurricane Katrina to tell the “real story” as
she and her neighbors hunker down in advance of the storm.
For viewers today, the early scenes are
filled with the dread of knowing what’s coming. Roberts and her
husband Scott don’t take things lightly, but even with TV warnings
they can’t possibly know that the levees are about to be breached.
After all, George W. Bush said there was no way to anticipate it
(despite multiple warnings from engineers over the years.) It’s
hard not to notice that, even before Katrina hits, Roberts'
neighborhood already looks like it’s been partially abandoned
though video taken two weeks later shows that things really could get
worse, a lot worse.
The footage Roberts shoots during the
storm is extraordinary and these scenes are more harrowing than
virtually anything a feature film can produce. There’s the
indexical whammy again. Replicate these exact images in a fictional
context and you have another generic disaster movie; knowing that
they're real lends them a unique and enduring power. The water builds
and builds, forcing Kimberly and Scott retreat to ever higher ground
until they finally share an attic with several other residents.
Kimberly projects an optimistic spirit even as they huddle together:
I got food and beaucoup water, just help yourself!
“Help yourself” is the operative
phrase for anyone left behind because, as we all know by now, neither
the federal nor local government was about to ride in on Mike Brown’s
Arabian horses to save the day. In an absolutely riveting video
sequence, Roberts' neighbor Larry literally comes floating by on a
punching bag which he uses as a flotation device to take people one
by one to safer ground as he swims through water that swells above
the stop sign on the corner. Lessin and Deal deliver the final
heartbreaking touch by following up the scene with several recorded
911 calls: “The police are not coming out until the weather gets
better.”
And they’re not coming out next week
or the week after that. Amazingly, when Deal and Lessin revisit the
9th Ward a year later it looks little changed from one
week after Katrina. Any anger we feel about the lack of federal and
local response during the storm is only amplified in the following
months as Kimberley and Scott, like thousands of other Katrina
survivors, are stymied at nearly every turn as they seek help. Still
they soldier on.
“Trouble the Water” isn’t just a
cry against the impotence of a government that failed in its most
basic responsibility, but also an affirmation of the power of
self-actualization. People like Kimberly and Larry and others come
together in a time of need and survive because of their fortitude and
cooperation. And the following weeks and months provide even more
opportunity for them to use the experience to grow and re-focus their
lives, each with varying degrees of success. Not that anyone
(rational) watching this movie will ever think of Katrina as a “good
thing.”
Kimberly Roberts (AKA Black Kold
Madina) is an amazing subject, so it’s only appropriate that the
film’s non-Katrina centerpiece is when she performs her rap song
“Amazing.” “I don’t need you to tell me that I’m amazing.
Come on and take a look and know that I’m amazing.” I cannot
remember the last time I was left so slack-jawed by a musical
performance.
Come on and take a look at “Trouble
the Water” and you won’t need me to tell you that it’s amazing.
And it really happened. Whammy.
Video:
The documentary is presented in an
anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer from Zeitgeist Films. The film mixes Kim’s
footage with footage taken by Deal and Lessin as well as media clips
from the various news channels covering Katrina, so the image quality
varies. Roberts' video footage is pretty soft and it’s tough to get
a really nice looking still frame from it but I think she can be
forgiven for shooting under trying conditions. Lessin and Deal’s
footage is crisp and often beautiful even when surveying the damage
left behind in a city that still hasn’t been rebuilt.
Audio:
The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital
2.0. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are offered to support
the English audio. Forced subtitles are included for some of the
dialogue that’s difficult to make out during the storm.
Extras:
Zeitgeist has included a handful of
interesting extras.
Four deleted scenes are included
(actually two extended scenes and two new ones), total 18 minutes
running time.
The DVD also includes a Q&A from
the 2009 Roger Ebert Film Festival (23 min.) with a panel discussion
featuring Deal, Lessin, and Kimberly and Scott Roberts and moderated
by Richard Roeper.
Also there is a Q&A from the August
2008 New Orleans premiere of the documentary (14 min.)
The final feature shows Kimberley’s
meeting with Mayor Ray Nagin at the Democratic National Convention (3
min.) It is identified as being August 27, 2009 but my hunch is that
it was really in 2008.
The DVD also includes a Theatrical
Trailer.
Final Thoughts:
“Trouble the Water” is one of the
best documentaries of the new millennium. If you don’t find
yourself moved by this direct kick in the gut then there’s
something very wrong with you.
The DVD is being released on August 25,
2009 only a few days from the fourth anniversary of the Katrina
disaster. Update on 8/30/15: And ten years after Katrina, the movie
is every bit as potent.
No comments:
Post a Comment