The Right State

Spike Lee has a new film coming out, this time a documentary called, “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.”  Since exploding on the scene 20 years ago, Lee has directed forty different movies all sporting an African-American focus.  But now Mr. Lee has turned his attention and his conspiracy ideas onto the catastrophe when Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans.

Using current and historical footage, music and more than 100 interviews, the film reminds viewers that although Katrina shattered the entire Gulf Coast, New Orleans and its mostly black residents got hit especially hard. Thousands fought to survive deadly floodwaters for days while federal help was slow in coming. Many are left today with a nearly ruined city and broken hearts.

Lee conducted each of the interviews, and viewers occasionally hear him asking questions, but he never steps in front of the camera. There is no narrator telling viewers that New Orleans was abandoned, or that this may have happened because most residents are black. There is no need.  (emphasis added by TRS)

You have got to be kidding me?!  The hurricane did not just pick on one race of people.  There were a whole host of people hurt by this storm including Whites, Hispanics and Blacks.  Nobody seems to remember that one of the first areas flooded was the mostly white area of St. Bernard.  For anyone to even suggest that the federal response was slow because mostly blacks were affected is indeed delusional.

The reasons for the devastation are many.  Nobody was ready for a storm of this magnitude.  Coupled with that was incompetence at all levels of government, with most of the accusations of incompetence has been rightly directed at the city and state levels.  Right Wing Nut House has a comprehensive timeline of the hurricane and its aftermath.

There is nothing wrong with Spike Lee making a documentary on the disaster and devastation in New Orleans, but if he is going to make a documentary, he needs to start with some semblance of the truth.  It is near to the point where you can not trust a documentary anymore.  Michael Moore had his fake story and now Spike has his.

Lee claims he lets the people he interviews tell the story of New Orleans, but only a complete idiot would believe the film maker did not lead the hatred in the movie.  Some talk about how the levees were bombed to kill blacks and others say the feds did nothing to kill many more.  The end result is the same, Spike Lee has directed a fictional movie under the guise of a documentary.

For now, he’s spending little time pondering his 20-year milestone. “What I’m trying to do is just get better,” he said. “Become a better storyteller. That’s what I do.”

Maybe Spike Lee should keep to the storytelling and leave the documentaries to those who can tell the story without bias, who can tell the truth without stretching the truth, who can tell of the remarkable heroism of the people of New Orleans without demeaning their sacrifice.  All in all, it’s the same old Spike, full of hate for white people.

Tags: Movies, Culture by Chuck
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United 93 opened yesterday in theaters nationwide.  Truth be told, this is one of those movies I am not sure I want to see, like the Passion of the Christ.  I know what happened, the heroes died, and a nation was saved.  There are other good movies where the hero dies, but none with the implications of this one.  These people are TRUE HEROES.  And so for me, it is a must see movie.  Not for any macabre reasons, but because these died to save our nation’s capitol. 

I searched on Yahoo Movies for what the movie viewers were saying.  Yahoo says the average movie viewer gave the movie a B+, but after viewing about a hundred reviews, ninety-five percent gave Flight 93 at least an A-.  They used phrases like: awesome, an amazing movie, united we stand, we need to remember, what an incredible movie, and Best Movie of the Year.  So it is obviously a movie worth seeing.

I agree with David Benzion at the Lone Star Times view of the these heroes.  The passengers on Flight 93 fired the first shots in the Global War on Terror.  It is up to the rest of us never to forget their sacrifice.

Frankly, I think every passenger and crew-member on United 93 should be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  To me it is a travesty that more has not been done, officially and otherwise, to honor this first group of individuals to report and fight in what has been termed “The Global War on Terror”.  They were the “United 93 Militia”.  They reported for duty and fought heroically and honorably. They did so faster than any of us were able comprehend the events of that day, let alone get into the action. They utilized their wits, bodies and whatever object they could fashion into weapons.

So this is a movie I will go and watch, not just for its entertainment value nor just for its informational value.  I will see this movie for these heroes, for the family of these heroes, for me, and for my family.  May we never forget what these people on this doomed flight did for the rest of us.

Update:  My wife and I went to see Flight 93 tonight.  It was awesome, if you can call a movie like this awesome.  During most of the movie and afterwards, you could here a pin drop.  There are three overall feelings I got from the movie.  First is the fact that these terrorists are fanatical wackos who can not be reasoned with.  Second, is the fact that these were ordinary passengers, who felt like they had no option, and as a result, became heroes.  And third, George Bush was right in going after these terrorists and the countries that harbor them.  Again, it was an awesome movie.  It is a must see for all Americans who want to know why we are fighting the Global War on Terror.

Tags: Movies, Culture, War by Chuck
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