When the Levees Broke (2006)
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 29
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
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Average Rating: 4.4/5
User Ratings: 5,558
Movie Info
Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee (the guiding force behind the critically acclaimed documentary 4 Little Girls) turns to nonfiction filmmaking once again with the heart-wrenching marathon work When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, produced by Lee's Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks and originally screened on HBO. In four "acts" of approximately one hour each, Lee examines the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the late summer of 2005 and the incorrigible response to
Aug 16, 2006 Wide
Dec 19, 2006
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All Critics (30) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (1) | DVD (8)
The same didactic instincts that sometimes mar Lee's fictional filmmaking serve him well as a documentarian and eulogist.
Top CriticSurely the most magnificent and large-souled record of a great American tragedy ever put on film.
What breaks your heart is the film's accumulated firsthand stories of New Orleans residents who lost everything in the flood after Hurricane Katrina, and the dismaying conclusion that a year after the disaster, the broken city has been largely abandoned.
When the Levees Broke is like the New Orleans jazz funeral -- a dirge on the way to the cemetery, an up-tempo parade in the deceased's honor on the bittersweet walk back home.
Do the flaws diminish Levees? To a degree. But the story Lee tells is so powerful, so important, that the lapses aren't a reason not to pay heed to what this passionate film has to say.
It's something to make a point to see.
Spike Lee's masterful and disturbing Katrina docu.
There's no way to truly distill this triumph into a handful of words. The ghosts of so many color the corners of a mournful poem and a powerful prayer that's pissed off, hopeful, practical, empathetic and one of the most important documentaries ever made.
Arguably Lee's best effort since Do the Right Thing.
...provides an extraordinarily detailed look at this event, and its worth is sure to be felt increasingly as the memories fade and the anger softens with time and distance.
Despite capturing many heartbreaking aspects of the disaster, this is essentially an overambitious mess which ultimately fails to convey effectively the scale or scope of the ongoing tragedy.
It's the depth and weight of Freeman Jr's or Michael Wright's or Phyllis Leblanc's words, the anger and sadness behind them, that surge forth here, sinking the political elite's murderously empty promises.
In this golden era of documentary filmmaking, When the Levess Broke is among the very best films of the past year, fiction and non-fiction alike.
...what should have been a searing, powerful documentary generally comes off as a rough cut that's desperately in need of some judicious editing.
It's an honest, fair and unflinching look at one of the greatest, and saddest, natural disasters to hit our shores.
An exhaustive, ruminative, angry and even occasionally gallows-humorous account of the strange domino effect of tragedy compounding incompetence compounding tragedy that dealt a critical blow to one of America's great cities.
[The film] presents a poignant picture of official blunders and personal loss, and provides important national lessons if another threat this size hits an American city.
Audience Reviews for When the Levees Broke
Super Reviewer
But this documentary is so INCREDIBLY well done that I can forgive him some of the mediocre/crappy films he has made prior to this.
Spike brings a face (several actually) and a heart (albeit broken) to the tragic events following hurricane Katrina.
An event that is a true disgrace to our country and the good people of the gulf coast. And will forever be a scar on the face of our history as Americans.
If this film doesn't bring tears to your eyes, an ache to your heart and a ball of anger to your stomach...then you are either heartless or a Republican (possibly both?).
Super Reviewer
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Latest News on When the Levees Broke
June 29, 2011:
Will Smith Wants Denzel Washington for American CanOne megastar seeks another megastar to fill the megastar-sized void in his Katrina-inspired project.
August 20, 2010:
Spike Lee Talks If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't RiseIn a new interview with Collider, Spike Lee offers a behind-the-scenes look at his new HBO...
August 18, 2008:
New Katrina Doc Continues a Tale of SurvivalRelatively few of them have reached the screen, but a number of films examining the aftermath of...
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Movie: ID: 359855412 Title: When the Levees Broke Release Date: 2006-08-16 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 6 Status: 1
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