When the Levees Broke (2006)
- Original title
- When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
- Directed by
- Spike Lee
- Genre
- documentary film
- Country
- United States
- Length
- 1 season, 2 episodes
- Rated
- TV-14
- Rating
- 7.5 of 10 from 55 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
Spike Lee's documentary examines the catastrophic flooding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. It uses news footage and interviews with residents, officials, and journalists to show the disaster and its aftermath.
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What happens
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. It premiered at the New Orleans Arena on August 16, 2006 and was first aired on HBO the following week. The television premiere aired in two parts on August 21 and 22, 2006 on HBO. It has been described by Sheila Nevins, chief of HBO's documentary unit, as "one of the most important films HBO has ever made." The title is a reference to the blues tune "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The documentary was screened at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival on August 31 and September 1, 2006. It won the Orizzonti Documentary Prize and one of two FIPRESCI awards. It was also shown at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival on September 15 and September 16, 2006. It won three awards at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards and received a Peabody Award. The documentary is based on news video footage and still photos of Katrina and its aftermath, interspersed with interviews. Interviewees include politicians, journalists, historians, engineers, and many residents of various parts of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, who give first hand accounts of their experiences with the levee failures and the aftermath. In the style of Michael Apted's Up series (a documentary series that interviews Apted's subjects every seven years), Lee planned to interview his featured subjects in Levees at least once more. In August 2010, HBO aired Lee's documentary series, If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise, which chronicles how New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area have fared in the five years following Hurricane Katrina. Lee also directed the third episode of the 2025 Netflix documentary series titled "Katrina: Come Hell and High Water". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
The Big Uneasy (2010)
Hexing a Hurricane (2006)
Hurricane on the Bayou (2006)
Bad 25 (2012)
Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans (2007)
New Orleans Music in Exile (2006)
Katrina Babies (2022)
4 Little Girls (1997)- More like this series, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.