Trouble the Water

"It's not about a hurricane. It's about a nation". I am fortunate enough to live in the town where Roger Ebert runs his annual film festival. May I just say that I liked all the films of the first full day, but there is one film that stood out as the best film of today, and that was the final film, "Trouble the Water". This is a film that is a combination of a filmmaker's work and the raw footage of an regular (but extraordinary) woman who shot her experiences being trapped during the hurricane, and being trapped in an entirely different manner in the aftermath of the disaster.

This film is the kind of film that opens our eyes to all that we do not know, but think we do. The atrocities committed were reported on to some extent, but it is impossible to realize the true tragedy with media that is only giving certain sides of the story. While there was information about the complete and utter failure of the government in every aspect of this crisis, this movie brings out these failures in a way that is much more real than hearing about it over the five o'clock news.

We were fortunate enough at the festival to have the the black family who survived Katrina in attendance (and they made my day when they spoke to me in passing). This film brought up the issue of race that is to a large extent still ignored in the media, and several facts about Louisiana that are quite disturbing--such as increased cuts for education, and the fact that Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the U.S. (and the U.S. has the highest rate in the world). "Trouble the Water" is the kind of film that needs to be shown in hopes of understanding class and racial issues that face this country today, especially as we go through the worst economic crisis we have seen in a long time. "Trouble the Water" depicts strong, loving, REAL people, who are not the looters and criminals that the media was so keen to depict in the aftermath of Katrina. During the discussion, someone brought up the point that at one news broadcasting, the pictures of white and black people who were holding food were shown together, and the white people "found" the bread, while the blacks were labeled as looters.

In a society where so many of the images that we see are racist and biased against the poorest citizens of our nation, how can we hope to grow as a society towards greater community with ALL of the citizens of this country. I think that this powerful film, with such admirable people--who stayed strong and optimistic and just kept pushing--is the kind of message we should be getting. I felt blessed to be in the presence of these wonderful human beings, and I think that "Trouble the Water" is an important film for anyone to see who calls themselves a part of this country.

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com