Friday, September 08, 2006

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

Something for the weekend? Acts I and II of Spike Lee's documentary When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts covers the before, during and after of hurricane Katrina; the subsequent collapse of New Orleans' levee system; and the terrible flooding and devastation of the city. Some of the newsreel clips will be familiar to anyone who followed those events on TV or online. To view youtube installements of Acts I and II, please go via Lenin's Tomb

During an American TV donation telethon five days after the hurricane, rapper Kanye West abandoned what was rolling down his teleprompter and gave a somewhat disjointed but passionate speech that ended: "George Bush don't care about black people."

Kanye West telling it like it is, next to a puppet named Mike Myers (who's he?): youtube

Not just black people, Kanye. Not as evidenced in Acts III and IV, which have some truly jaw-dropping moments documenting the year since and what has happened in New Orleans. And what hasn't happened. A sample: youtube
To view all the youtubes for Acts III and IV, please go via Lenin's Tomb

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