Could have been a lot more interesting.

A scathing indictment of the Army Corps of Engineers that pretty conclusively proves that the damage resulting from Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, man-made and not a natural disaster.

ok doc but kind of drags

saw it at special showing @ Prytania Theater in NOLA, w/Harry Shearer present!!!!!!

A little dorky in its presentation, but a lot of interesting and frustrating information. Harry Shearer and friends have an obvious love for their city.

A sobering, sad and informative view of the real reasons Katrina flooded New Orleans. Government incompetence and the ensuing coverup are disgusting. Even worse is they are repeating the exact same mistakes to save a buck. Definitely see this doc when you get a chance.

The whole story isn't quite there. The movie is essentially a rage fueled smear flick that certainly left a lot on the editing room floor. If it's trying to incite change, it's asking the wrong questions and knocking on the wrong doors.

The documentary speaks to the disaster in New Orleans which happened after Katrina, and gets to the bottom of what was not a natural disaster at all. There are widespread implications for many US cities.

No dead bodies, no Superdome, no political hatchet job... just an absolutely brilliant and in-depth investigation into the biggest MAN-MADE disaster (and cover-up) in our nation's history... an absolute MUST SEE, especially if you live near ANY body of water which has been "fortified" by the Army Corps of Engineers. A Rage-inducing doc and one of the best one's that I've seen in good long while!

by Patrick Cash for remotegoat on 20/09/10 Well-know comedian and Simpsons voice actor Harry Shearer's film concerned with the 2005 flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrine shone a new light on what was originally hailed as a completely 'natural disaster' by the world's media. Exposing a flaw in the methods used by the US Army Corps Engineers in building the city's defences (the flaw being essentially they did not build them to adequately anticipate Katrina) and accusing them of ignoring certain research reports as well as various failures in their rescue procedures, Shearer's many talking heads crafted a classic framework for a major Hollywood movie as a picture of the struggling golden few operating against the darkly bureaucratic tyrannies of modern governmental organisations emerged. 
 And many of these stories were interesting, even suspicious in the depictions of nefarious dealings they alluded to - a particular case stood out of a university lecturer who spoke out and was seemingly consequently sacked from his institution once that institution had received a $12 million donation from a government agency - but one did have to wonder how much of the whole picture the audience was receiving from Shearer's film. As academics and leaders in their field unanimously supported his side of the story, and their few opponents allowed air space came in the form of jockish army officers and one spectacularly sinister female engineer who wore sunglasses through the whole of her interview, sporting an ominous broken arm and a voice that sounded like a million past smoked Marlboro Reds, the lack of coherent, unbiased debate became palpable. Shearer seemed to have a side of a story which he was willing to perpetuate at any lengths so that its 'truth' may be officially created via his film.
 Supposed amusing interludes came in the form of 'Ask a New Orleanian' where Shearer's showbiz mate John Goodman posed questions that were deemed 'outrageous' (such as 'why don't you rebuild New Orleans further inland?' which probably sounds relatively reasonable to the rest of the world, given its already been destroyed once) and a group of hugely irritating, pompous, self-advertising 'members of the community' denounced each question's inherent ludicrousness in an inane exchange of chatter. 
 Perhaps what became most evident from this film, rather than a murky conspiracy surrounding New Orleans' consignation to a Dante-esque inferno by shadowy authorities in smoke-filled rooms, was concise proof of the particularly American 'need to blame'. Seen in the country's incessant legal economy of madcap suing and ever-ongoing lawsuits, once an occurrence of negativity has come to pass, the unwritten law has established itself as such now that there must be a human responsible behind it. In this case, Shearer paints the US Army Corps Engineers and other figures of authority as culpable, emphatically attempting to state that it was not the Atlantic, not the hurricane that was behind New Orleans' devastation. So what happens now, if they build those defences even bigger and a storm even bigger arrives? Who do they blame then?
 Far more fascinating were the disappointingly sparse concentrations within the film of working with the Dutch and their expertise on canals to create an ecologically sound new structure for the system of the city, that would absorb floods and their effects rather than striving for further battalions to combat them. In his next film, Shearer might do well to look to the future and its promises, rather than doggedly searching for a villain in the past.

Very informative documentary about the reason why New Orleans flooded. If anything else, this film gets across that this was not a "natural disaster" but a man-made one.

This is a good documentary that focuses on why New Orleans flooded as opposed to the aftermath of the flood. Many of the stuff in this documentary was on PBS's Newshour, but I still learned some interesting information. Why it's only around for one night I don't know. But at least I got to see it, and the film's editor was present to introduce and provide a Q&A for the film. Nice.