Spike Lee is a fuckin genius

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

nuff said?
sho nuff.

That is one powerful film, I hope it changes something.

[MuseRider]

1. I agree.

Stunning wasn't it?

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. I agree, it is great n/t

[AlCzervik]

3. Brilliant.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. He's set the bar high for cable documentaries.

I was in awe through the first two acts.

It' sgoing to take some time to get over the emotions this brought up. It was brilliant film making.

[C_U_L8R]

5. I'm drained

what an emotional film.

[Beausoir]

6. I watched it with my son and my husband. It is an exhausting journey.

The horror of what was allowed to happen.....

[Webster Green]

7. I hope so too!......

Just in time for the elections.

Can't wait till tomorrow to see the rest of the documentary.

[blueknight]

8. spike

is one of, if not the best filmmaker of this generation.i only wish this movie was being shown in the theaters,as well. many people dont have hbo

[Blue_In_AK]

43. Then again, there are people like my husband and I

who have HBO but never go to the movies. I'm sure plenty of people will see this.

[druidity33]

46. too poor...

I can't really do movies out or HBO/cable because of the expense (and i have a kid... sitters are pricey too!). I hope Spike jumps this movie straight to video or broadcast TV... if he wants NO folk to see it that's the only way it's going to happen. I see a couple of films a year (V for Vendetta was my last one) and belong to a local video store's rental club. I play outside mostly...

[AndyA]

9. I hope the memory of the horrors that have been allowed to happen

under the "guidance" of this Adminstration and party remains fresh and clear in the minds of voters as they head to the polls in November. We must rid ourselves of the parasites that are running our country into the ground.

I learned a few things tonight that I didn't know. And I'm very disturbed by them. It's almost as if Katrina just happened, instead of almost a year passing.

[angee_is_mad]

26. Terence Blanchard said

and I'm paraphasing here, "How can we continue to support this man (bush)knowing all the lives that he has destroyed since being in office" enuff said!

[IntiRaymi]

34. Easy!

Many people are motivated by racism. The disaster that ensued after Katrina was encouraged by the racist constituency President Bush has.

[misanthrope]

41. I'm surrounded by it...

...Any mention of Katrina in my neck of the woods invariably elicits the condemnation of those in New Orleans for being there when the storm hit, though they never say that about the people in Mississippi.

Mention the affected counties in Mississippi and all you hear is resentment at the coverage given the horror, aftermath and recovery in New Orleans.

And if you think race has nothing to do with it, I've got some swampland you might be interested in...

[spanone]

10. Excellent.

[Mr_Spock]

11. So, he's good at f^%#&^?

[LibraLiz1973]

12. That was AMAZING>

I've been a fan for years- ever since "Do The Right Thing"... which is an amazing and under rated movie IMHO

[peacetalksforall]

13. George Bush, Dick Cheney, Rice, Chertoff equals bodies disregarded

like a 9th world country.

George Bush, Dick Cheney, Rice, Chertoff equals abject human abuse.

There is no exuse. None.

Start thinking how this can get a wider audience even if it means showing it against a white sheet outside in an empty lot.

Here I sit stunned in a comfortable chair and a stomach that would be full if I had the stomach to eat ... as I drink my water.

Images and an attention holding editing - not easy to forget.

[Hubert Flottz]

14. "genius"

I agree...Wow. Very sad what our country has become.

[Skittles]

15. I have always liked his in-you-face attitude

he ruffles a lot of conservative feathers; I APPROVE.

[MoseyWalker]

16. The only thing he did

was show what it was.

It's the biggest catastrophe in this country in over a hundred years, and the goddammed media plays it like a game.

People fucking died. Not people you or I know, but the died. I saw them.

I haven't recovered yet, and don't think I ever will.

I hate this government. I hate war and the money it takes to sustain it, and I hate that people are NEVER taken care of.

Watch one body float down the river that used to be a fucking street, and tell me that Iraq and fake democracy is important.

[rudy23]

21. What makes you say people we know didn't die?

This was real, this affected a large number of people of all walks of life. I don't think people have really absorped what's happened yet. Maybe this will wake up some prominent Democrats somewhere who can make more than a half-hearted attempt to hold people at the federal level accountable, and get the wheels in motion for as much help as we can get in any way shape or form.

[rudy23]

24. Thanks so much for helping afterwards

to you and everyone who has helped out afterwards. I'm on the periphery, but most of my family wasn't.

I haven't seen the movie, and I don't know how long it will be before I can, but I'm glad they told stories of heroism too.

[pitohui]

29. people i know died

i doubt i'm the only one on DU who knows several people who died, this thing was huge

but i get your larger point, mosey -- and also thank you for your service!

[me b zola]

33. Hon, you weren't here yet...but we wept--&screamed--together here

We saw. We wept, yelled, blogged, gathered info...even if you didn't feel us...even if you felt as though the entire world had abandoned the Gulf, NOLA...we were here--we saw.

[lpbk2713]

17. Damn skippy.

[Nikki Stone 1]

18. Don't have HBO. When is it coming out on DVD?

/?

[survivor999]

19. Wrong!

He's a goddamn fucking genius!

[annm4peace]

20. I hope many saw this film

I have Dish Network and constantly watched before, when, and after Katrina hit. I was able to watch CNN, but what was more informative was Cspan, BBC, and Free Speech TV channel 9415. What a difference in the coverage.
I had to sign up for HBO to see Spike Lee's movie. The interviews were incredible. I don't know how people could get over this who live in the Gulf Coast. I survived the CA "energy crisis" and I have such anger and despise the Bush administration and those who voted for them.
I hope Spike Lee has given the incredible survivors of Gulf Coast a voice. Hundreds and hundreds of stories of survival should be told. I'm thought Lee did an incredible job of covering various voices.
This movie should be in the theaters, but I hope it gets to Network TV so those who don't have cable or sate-lite can see it. It was and still is heartbreaking that a President and it's group could still stay in office after such homicidal neglect.
Tomorrow Bush comes here to Minneapolis. He is going to a Hospital to tout his health care plan.
Of course there will be protesters.. We usually get about 1000 or more out when he comes. I hope some have signs that remind him of Katrina.
For the survivors our prayers were with you then, and they are with you now.

[bridgit]

22. spike's hap'nin...

[Penndems]

23. Yes he is - this film was a masterpiece

Spike brought all of the elements of that horrific disaster together in one outstanding package.

Looking forward to seeing the next two segments tomorrow evening.

[angee_is_mad]

25. I cried tonight

I have never been so riveted by a television program before tonight. I was so angry by the images and the commentary that I wanted to turn it off, but I couldn't.

The sad thing about it is that the powers that be has moved on to the next big story.

[mnhtnbb]

27. Thank you, Spike Lee! I watched the coverage of Katrina

when it happened last year, in total horror and disbelief. I also just finished reading

Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City by Jed Horne

How the Bush government can still be in power is beyond me. It's one thing to lie your way into a war thousands of miles away; it's quite another
to be incapable of responding to a PREDICTED DISASTER under your own nose.

There is no excuse for the incompetent, arrogant, unempathic, evil
bunch of a$$holes--known as the Bush Administration--running our government.
The American people need to wake up from their stupor before the American experiment in democracy is gone for good.

[lavenderdiva]

28. You are right, Mr. Lee is a genius-

I sat, riveted to the television, and didn't get up for the 2+ hrs of the broadcast. I'm sure tomorrow's 2nd part episode will be the same way. It is supposed to focus on how the insurance industry has 'responded' to the Katrina survivors.

Hopefully, Mr. Lee's film will win Emmys big-time, and somehow be broadcast or shown nationwide. People need to see this. It is so powerful, and by the mere fact that there are no voice-overs, only the voices of those who survived and lived through it, makes it even more powerful. It was compelling television.

Recommended your post-

[Withywindle]

30. Brought me right back to a year ago

when every glass of cool water I had to drink and every sandwich I ate made me feel guilty because there were people in my own fucking country who went for a week without a glimpse of those things---and it did NOT have to be that way.


I hope the next installments mention how many people all over the country were desperate to help--WHO WERE IN A POSITION TO HELP. How just in my own little corner of the world Gov. Blagojevich offered the IL National Guard (well, what's left of it) and Chicago offered hundreds of paramedics and trained urban search-and-rescue workers and firefighters and police and Streets & San workers, all of whom wanted desperately to go, all of whom were self-sufficient and well-equipped and well-trained, and FEMA said NO and offered no good reasons; I remember Mayor Daley being all red-faced and spluttery and even Senator Obama coming as close as he might ever get to losing his cool, and...there was never any explanation. IIRC, every state and city did something similar and yet...convoys of aid from all over were turned away. I am STILL waiting to hear why, but I suspect there is no good answer.

[misanthrope]

42. It's simple...

...those convoys didn't have the proper Halliburton contracts in hand to authorize entry to the free enterprise zone.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

31. TiVo'ing it sometime this week

Waiting for the HD 4-hr version. Not sure it's something I want/need to see in HD, but whatever.

I imagine it's very disturbing. I won't let my 10 year old watch it but I'm thinking my 14 year old should watch.

(Tonight I explained in detail to my 10 year old son how Bush has been found to have violated the Constitution with his wiretapping program. He really listened intently and seems to understand.)

[Blue_Tires]

32. this will be remembered as the definitive account of the whole mess

classrooms will be watching this 20+ years from now

[malaise]

45. My students will see it this semester

It was fugging brilliant.

[Oilwellian]

35. I hope it wakes America up

This documentary is a jolt of reality for Americans. Our own government will stand by and watch us die now. We can no longer think our government will defend and protect us in a time of need.

Thank you Spike Lee....hopefully the truth will set us free.

[angee_is_mad]

36. Don't Hold Your Breath

This great country of ours just don't get it.

[gumby]

37. Don't have HBO

But these posts are wrenching. Hope I can see it soon.

C-Span has been replaying their Katrina segment all day.

If George Bush's reason for existence is to "Protect The American People," he has clearly failed; unquestionably, without excuse. First 9/11, then Katrina.

Bush is the most Failed Presidency in HISTORY!!!

[fortyfeetunder]

38. I bet HBO will market this as DVD

This is an excellent history lesson....

[aaronbees]

39. It's fantastic ... can't wait for parts three and four

tomorrow. I was with my family watching it and frankly we signed up for HBO just to see it; my sister, a NOLA survivor, is in town and it brought back like a muddy flood all the shock and anger and disgust we felt when sitting and watching last year as the levees broke and continued inaction killed people day after damn freakin' day. It's hard to stomach but important to see. Lee's approach is masterful in weaving different storylines together to give something of a jazz funeral for a city and the great people who lived there and, in some cases, still live there and call it home. Very intrigued to see how he'll handle the rest of the post-flood life of New Orleans; as it was, his view of the government at all levels was a virtual indictment.

And it is indeed very powerful and moving. But if the events unfolding last year didn't change anything as they unfolded in our living rooms watching CNN and whatnot, I don't know what will.

The montage of dead bodies was just hearbreaking and really said it all.

[PhilYerHead]

40. Please look at my thread in GD...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Unbowed]

44. Very powerful. He's one hellofafilmaker!

[randr]

47. Required viewing

Everyone who considers themselves American should watch this movie with friends and family.
I discovered how removed I really am from events of the world even when I think I am engaged. I fear the vicarious nature of media saturation has replace real human empathy.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

48. May favorite part, which I missed during the event

was the arrival of a whole bunch of RCMP officers.... TWO DAYS... before our own National Guard.

WTF?

I was so pissed when I saw that.