Kimberly Rivers Roberts and Scott Roberts outside their flood-damaged home in New Orleans in Trouble the Water Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films

PREMIERE'S REVIEW (posted 8/21/08)

It's been almost three years since Hurricane Katrina unleashed the Atlantic Ocean on the northern Gulf of Mexico, killing over 1,800 people and displacing many more. Out of the nation's headlines, none stood out more prominently than the devastation in New Orleans which occurred under circumstances some say are an indictment of US public policy and social issues. The award-winning documentary Trouble the Water, directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (both worked on Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine), is a remarkable and disturbing look at the personal stories glossed over by the headlines.

New Orleans resident Kimberly Rivers Roberts picks up a video camera for the first time in her life to document her neighborhood during Katrina. She and her husband Scott live in the Ninth Ward, one of the poorest parts of New Orleans, whose residents are left stranded as the rest of the city evacuates before the storm hits. Unfortunately, they have no idea what is in store for them, although the viewer does. The footage is raw and sometimes shaky, but communicates the stark reality of people realizing they've been forsaken by the establishment and left to fend for themselves.

As the waters rise, Roberts' prayers already resemble a eulogy. Lessin and Deal's seamless editing provides a broader view of the situation, interspersing Roberts' footage of the roof-level water and fruitless cries for help with recordings of 911 dispatchers turning callers away and clips of national news broadcasts — including a speech by President Bush — that are chillingly calm despite the storm's brutality. The film portrays on a personal level the effects of a government that claims to be prepared but is absent during its citizens' most critical moments of need.

Trouble the Water is so stark, the story so unbelievable, it's as if it had been scripted. It documents in plain sight the contradictions, however unfathomable, that exist in the nooks and crannies of America's social conscience — elderly and minimum-security prisoners abandoned and left to die in their facilities; the disparity between the devastation of the Ninth Ward and the oblivious tourists on Bourbon Street; a Navy base that abandons its duty to serve when the newly homeless approach the base for shelter; and a citizen who is unable to file a claim for aid because he must provide residential proof that was supposedly lost in the hurricane.

More importantly, Trouble the Water is a portrait of poverty in America and of a community's enduring spirit despite losing everything. Kimberly's optimism is infectious, effectively driving the storyline, and she's also a talented hip hop artist. Her music survives the wreckage and is used throughout the soundtrack. Prior to the film screening I attended, located in a pocket of Central Park, Roberts performed songs from her debut album. Her warmth and charisma, despite her tragic experience in New Orleans, was inspiring. (Kim announced that when she heard the movie would be called Trouble the Water she quickly recorded one of her songs by the same name. Why? Because she's a "hustler.")

The audience reaction to Trouble the Water at Sundance, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 2008 film festival, was overwhelming. Kimberly and Scott were also in attendance, and amazingly enough, welcomed their first child the day after its Sundance screening.

Make no mistake — Trouble the Water is opening the day before Katrina's third-year anniversary for a very good reason. What America knows about New Orleans post-Katrina has been gleaned from the headlines, and as time has passed, the media has mostly moved on, although the residents of NOLA haven't been able to. Politics aside, the film's abandoned dirt roads and crumbling homes are a scene out of a third world country, not the backyard of the Land of Opportunity. The question is: What's next?

— Pauline Pechin