Trouble the Water gave me a very unique insight into the problems of Katrina that sent the country into an outrage. It was personal, and that allowed me to put a face to the statistics and really get inside a world I’ve witnessed only through CNN helicopter panoramas. I do have some issues with the way the film was put together in the end, but I have to say it is a documentary definitely worth watching.
My first reaction to Kim’s footage was that this was going to be a very real, unprocessed film. Someways into the documentary I began to think otherwise. In my opinion, the footage taken during the hurricane, however brief, was raw and really captured the heart of the moment. The fact remains that the majority of Kim’s footage covers her struggles post-Katrina. In many ways, the standard “conventions” that apply to basically all documentaries applied to Kim’s personal documentary. Her voice was narrating in the background, and many of the shots were clearly used to generate a certain reaction. That is why I am compelled to say Kim’s footage is not any ‘truer’ than say the mainstream media, or any other perspective offered.
I have to agree with Noel Murray as about halfway through the film I started to get a little confused as to where the director was taking the film. I was expecting a film about the ferocity of Katrina and the impact it had on New Orleans. Now I understand that was a minor thread tied into the film (ie. Clips/narration touching on the failure of the government to offer rescue or any aid to those incapable of getting by on their own means). By the end of the film the main focus was about Kim and her husband reinventing themselves after their old lives had literally been washed away by Katrina. This is a completely different direction than what may have been an informative piece of media used to incite public action. The viewer is left with this emotional connection to the Roberts’ story of triumph over adversity. By the end, it’s an uplifting story about the human spirit that takes place in the setting of Katrina. This ending contrasts with the initial direction of the film. It’s my guess the director had this goal in mind to capture what Katrina was, and after struggling to find anything really compelling, stumbled across Kim who is a very strong personality. It’s a good film, and there are many valuable things to draw from it, however it’s ultimate impact was simply to entertain.
I agree with Gavin's comments about the direction of the film. After seeing it, I felt that the political arguments the directors made were largely unsupported, and the film would have been better if they had either beefed up their points or left more of them out. They could have interviewed more government officials as to get their side of the story more fully, or they could have chosen to follow Kim's footsteps from beginning to end. However, I must acknowledge that my idea of a "balanced" film is not the same as those of others, and if viewers left with both a close connection to the Roberts family and a more educated view on the government's actions, then it certainly was balanced for them.
ReplyDeleteVery provocative (again, in a good way!) thoughts, Gavin. I'm especially interested in your claim about Kim's footage, which you grew to believe, it seems, was more deliberate and 'processed' than you originally thought, and, as you say, 'many of the shots were clearly used to generate a certain reaction'. I would love to hear you expand on this -- any shots in particular that you remember, and how were they so 'used'?
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