Sunday, September 12

Trouble the Water the Movie


Wow, what a powerful movie. I watched this last night and I was so amazed, not just by the fact that it's a true story, with actual first person video of the entire storm (Hurricane Katrina), but what really struck me was that it was from the point of view of a poor couple from the 9th ward who were struggling to survive before the storm but had the foresight to document the event and to seek out documentarians to get their story out there, never victims, but always strong and caring.
If I taught high school in the city, I would show this to my students in a heartbeat because it really gives voice to the voiceless and shows their experience is a shared experience and a valid experience, wherever you come from, you can be in charge of your choices and your future, no matter what life throws at you. The woman filmmaker, Kimberly Rivers Roberts decides to record her neighborhood and the storm, keeping her caring, sunny disposition throughout, later revealing a powerful rap persona, Black Kold Medina and we learn she has had a life no one would envy but has not let this keep her down.