The REEL Addict 

By Allan Tong of Holy Grails

George W. Bush’s presidency will be remembered for two things: 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. This documentary, based largely on the home video footage of survivor Kimberly Rivers, condemns Bush for his failure to help the poor black citizens of New Orleans’ ninth ward. Nestled against the levees which quickly broke, the Ninth bore the brunt of the August 2005 hurricane which claimed nearly 2,000 lives. Aspiring rap singer, Rivers, bought a used hi8 Sony camcorder to film a music video, but because she had no car to escape the city she stayed behind and battled the rising waters.

Though shaky and blurry, her footage is astonishing to behold on the big screen. Hours before Katrina touches down there is an eerie calmness in her neighbourhood. There’s a sense of Greek tragedy here. We know what will happen to the people who stay behind, and we dread their fate. This foreboding only rises as the film cuts back and forth, alternating between the lead-up and the aftermath of Katrina. We find Rivers huddled with neighbours in her attic because the waters have swallowed up the rest of her house. Outside her window, the street has turned into a river.

Directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal augment Rivers’ footage with news clips: Bush refuses to transfer American troops from Iraq to the disaster zone and offers only prayer; a reporter excoriates a FEMA rep (the government aid agency) for not helping the survivors who have gone without food or water for days; most chilling is a montage of 911 calls from people about to drown in their homes because no rescue teams were dispatched.

Lessin and Deal also blend their own footage which was taken after they ran into Rivers at a Red Cross shelter. There’s a poignant scene of soldiers returning from Iraq only to be devastated to find nothing left of home. Lessin and Deal follow Rivers back to the Ninth where she discovers dead dogs lying in the street and decaying bodies rotting in neighbours’ homes. Weeks after Katrina, Rivers goes on a wild goose chase for a missing $2,000 relief cheque from FEMA. Later, she and her neighbors are turned away at gunpoint from occupying an empty army base. All they want is a place to sleep for the night.

The message is clear: Washington doesn’t care if its poor, black citizens die. TROUBLE THE WATER is a damning epitaph of the presidency of George W. Bush.