Review of Trouble the Water (2008) by Stefan T — 08 May 2011

Trouble The Water (2008).

This is a very interesting documentary, where a New Orleans resident gets a video camera during Hurricane Katrina and the terrible aftermath.

At first Kimberly Rivers Roberts is getting the hang of holding the camera still, but she is showing us a view of the 9th Ward and their occupants, that most of us never got to see. Her old man, Scott Roberts helps. We really start to get to know these people.

While the people who can afford to evacuate, are doing it, the poor resolve to hunker down and hope for the best. Like we, on the West coast think that we'll do alright on an earthquake until a richter 6+ hits, these guys are worrying when the flood waters reach the attic floor of their shotgun house.

The movie is interspersed with scenes from the news services, and audio from the 911 dispatcher, giving us yet another view of the aftermath. Stuff like not getting any help or rescue efforts, as well as no food, drinkable water or shelter. An empty Naval base is guarded to keep out the homeless.

The whole 9th Ward is basically treated like an impoverished third-world country and war zone, that our own country wants to completely ignore. Ironically, the rest of New Orleans wants it to be "Business as Usual".

The thing that I didn't particularly like about the movie, besides the fact that we get to see Kimberly gain about 30 pounds throughout the length of the film, but the movie begins to get slicker and Kimberly goes Hollywood with self-promotion as a rapper artist. But, most of the movie is well worth you checking out.