Trouble the Water… Water over the Bridge
Trouble the Water (2008): 8 out of 10: Kimberly Roberts is a 24-year-old rap hopeful who took some incredible footage just before and during hurricane Katrina. Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, who came down to Louisiana to film a different project about Katrina and found both her and her footage. They switched gears, and this movie was the result.
The most interesting footage is the pre-Katrina scenes. Kimberly knows her neighborhood and is a real person. She asks people what they are going to do about the hurricane. Her uncle buys another bottle of booze and stumbles home. Her 10-year-old pigtailed niece flashes a gang sign and declares she is not scared of any water.
While I know that neighborhoods like this exist, it is still shocking to see people live like this in America. One of the sad, strange truths that oozes out of the film is that Katrina is the best thing that ever happened to Kimberly and her friends. The disaster probably saved her life or at the very least gave her a chance at a new one.
Orphaned at 13 when her mother died of AIDS, Kimberly is no shrinking violet and she indeed tells it like it is. While Michael Moore veterans Carl Deal and Tia Lessin add structure and social commentary to the film, this is Kimberly’s show. The show is both moving and genuinely fascinating.