Review of Trouble the Water (2008) by Dianne B — 12 Sep 2008

So it has been a week since I saw this film and my impressions have clarified. This is one of the least manipulative films, the least condescending to either its subjects or its audience, especially considering the subject matter, I have encountered.

It is not out to make you cry or feel guilty but to give you access to a people and a world and a story that you might otherwise never see. It's not really about Katrina, but about the repercussions of Katrina.

It follows this wonderful couple who don't feel sorry for themselves so its impossible to feel sorry for them even as they go through some of the worst shit imaginable. They are folks that terrible things have happened to.

A brother abandoned in the Parish Prison and no way to get a hold of him. Watching the TV and seeing pictures of sheet covered bodies at a nursing home and wondering which one is their mother or grandmother.

It's about confronting a bureaucracy whose goal is to prevent fraud before helping victims. It is about endemic social injustice and poverty. On the one year anniversary of Katrina they take a stroll down to their old house and almost get arrested just for walking.

In a discussion after the movie with one of the filmmakers she talks about the difficulty of getting it released. Distribution companies asking if the couldn't put some whitefolks in it. This is a far from perfect movie.

It's messy in its editing and construction. But it works and it is important and I promise its not a drag to see. It's difficult but its not hard and charming and hilarious at times. I saw it in Berkeley at a full house which is the way to see it.

I loved the hissing every time Bush's face was on the screen. I recommend it as a practice. Go see it, go support filmmakers who do this kind of work. We have an underclass in this country. Go to show they aren't forgotten.