# When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006)

> Spike Lee's four-part documentary reconstructs Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans through the voices of those who lived it and the officials who failed them.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/15307

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 4
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, history
- Created by: Spike Lee
- Network: HBO
- Cast: Ray Nagin, Garland Robinette, Kathleen Blanco, Darleen Asevedo, Jay Asevedo, Harry Belafonte, Wendell Pierce, Mike Myers
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783612/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: elegiac, angry, mournful, sobering

## What critics say

Critics broadly acclaim the miniseries as a searing, emotionally direct account of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and its government failures.

## Synopsis

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) is a US HBO documentary miniseries created by Spike Lee. Across four hour-long episodes, the film follows the events before and after Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic passage through New Orleans in 2005. Rather than a single protagonist, its engine is testimony: residents, evacuees and local figures describe the storm, the flooding of the levees, the scramble for rescue and the slow, bureaucratic response that followed. Interviews with figures such as Mayor Ray Nagin, Governor Kathleen Blanco and Harry Belafonte sit alongside archival footage and home video, so that official statements are set against the lived experience of the flooded neighborhoods. Each act moves from the chaos of the storm to the long, displaced aftermath, building an argument about institutional neglect and the abandonment of a largely Black city. The tone is elegiac and angry, mournful rather than sensational, with music woven through the footage as a requiem. Fans of Chernobyl, O.J.: Made in America and The Thin Blue Line will find resonance in its serious, document-driven treatment of a national tragedy and its accountability. Spike Lee's direction gives the series a personal, deeply rooted voice tied to the city he loves.

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