Last February, director Spike Lee began filming a follow-up to When the Levees Broke, his 2006 documentary about Hurricane Katrina. Lee found high spirits in New Orleans but also a lack of housing and health care for the poor—as well as suspicions, among many, that the city’s rebuilding program had mainly benefited the elite. In April, when BP’s catastrophic oil well leak began, Lee found himself documenting a new disaster, during which Gulf Coast residents once again found their resilience tested by bureaucratic indifference. Monday–Wednesday, Aug. 23–25, at 9 p.m., HBO
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 cinematic cartoons about Bezos betting big on 'Melania'Cartoons Artists take on a girlboss, a fetching newspaper, and more
-
The fall of the generals: China’s military purgeIn the Spotlight Xi Jinping’s extraordinary removal of senior general proves that no-one is safe from anti-corruption drive that has investigated millions
-
Why the Gorton and Denton by-election is a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’Talking Point Reform and the Greens have the Labour seat in their sights, but the constituency’s complex demographics make messaging tricky
