A documentary that immerses you right into Hurricane Katrina, up close and personal, during and afterwards that shows the encouraged strength for others as well the further, juxtaposed exposure of the racially-motivated, flawed, mostly uncaring government towards the harsh truth from within. (B+) (Full review TBD)

It's gripping from beginning to end. Wonderfully told. It perfectly captures the unbiased reality of the storm Katrina brought to NOLA's citizens.

Very annoying lady that the movie focuses on. The points about the poor being hurt were very well-made. But the focus was all put on that annoying lady. Ugh

Living in the Philippines during the first eleven years of my life, I have witnessed what typhoons can do up close. The sight of streets where the water level-brown, full of debris, and controlled by a powerful currents-can go past six feet is scary for any child who has even only a slight comprehension of what is happening. I remember one typhoon in particular when it has gotten so bad that my mom welcomed our neighbors to stay in our house since it had an a bit of elevation. The water level seemed to go up every ten minutes. It threatened to drink us whole. There was no water in the faucet and no electricity in the outlets, only silent fears. We had food but supply was limited. Still, what is impossible to forget is that fear that we could possibly die. I observed the water level along the marble steps creeping up every thirty minutes or so and thinking there was no rescue. We were on our own. One of the saddest and most maddening realities shown in "Trouble the Water," directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, is the sight of New Orleans underwater right after Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the levee, compounded with 911 calls of people in their attics begging to be rescued while the operators could neither say nor do anything to help. A caller asked, "So we're going to die?" There was only silence on the other line. They knew there was no rescue team deployed by the proper authorities. Clearly, this was a point in American history where this country was an embarrassment. The documentary takes a personal approach. We follow aspiring rapper Kimberly Rivers Roberts and Scott Roberts, her husband, before, during, and after the devastation. Before the storm, we are given a small tour of the neighborhood through Kimberly's camera: the abandoned streets, the people who had no choice but to remain because they had neither means nor modes of transport, the ominous sky. In the middle of the storm, I was reminded of my childhood fears during a typhoon: the roaring winds, the increasing water levels outside, the blackout, the leaky roof. Weeks after the hurricane, we are shown places that Kimberly and Scott visited only days after the storm. Their anger is not shown in a confronting way. Instead, it is hidden inside disappointment and sadness from what had already occurred. We watch them get treated with disrespect by those in charge. Again, not in a confronting way. It is in the look that some military personnel gave them and sometimes how their questions-like why the rescue teams were not there when they were needed most-were answered. These were justified questions because they came from people who lost everything: possessions, trust in their government, loved ones. But these only scratch the surface. Some tragedies can only be experienced to be believed. I was especially horrified by the reality of empty houses with dead bodies. The houses were supposed to have been inspected and the corpses properly dealt with, but the bodies were left to be discovered by civilians. You will not believe where and how people who were supposed to be taking care of the survivors spent their time. "Trouble the Water" is special because it is given a specific human stamp despite the national disaster. Kimberly's well of optimism moved me. She has talent, too. At one point, she gives us a performance, a song that details her very troubled past, what helped her get to where she is, and her inspiration to move forward. In a way, she is New Orleans: despite its flaws therein lies an indomitable spirit. Film-Review.org

Living in the Philippines during the first eleven years of my life, I have witnessed what typhoons can do up close. The sight of streets where the water level-brown, full of debris, and controlled by a powerful currents-can go past six feet is scary for any child who has even only a slight comprehension of what is happening. I remember one typhoon in particular when it has gotten so bad that my mom welcomed our neighbors to stay in our house since it had an a bit of elevation. The water level seemed to go up every ten minutes. It threatened to drink us whole. There was no water in the faucet and no electricity in the outlets, only silent fears. We had food but supply was limited. Still, what is impossible to forget is that fear that we could possibly die. I observed the water level along the marble steps creeping up every thirty minutes or so and thinking there was no rescue. We were on our own. One of the saddest and most maddening realities shown in "Trouble the Water," directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, is the sight of New Orleans underwater right after Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the levee, compounded with 911 calls of people in their attics begging to be rescued while the operators could neither say nor do anything to help. A caller asked, "So we're going to die?" There was only silence on the other line. They knew there was no rescue team deployed by the proper authorities. Clearly, this was a point in American history where this country was an embarrassment. The documentary takes a personal approach. We follow aspiring rapper Kimberly Rivers Roberts and Scott Roberts, her husband, before, during, and after the devastation. Before the storm, we are given a small tour of the neighborhood through Kimberly's camera: the abandoned streets, the people who had no choice but to remain because they had neither means nor modes of transport, the ominous sky. In the middle of the storm, I was reminded of my childhood fears during a typhoon: the roaring winds, the increasing water levels outside, the blackout, the leaky roof. Weeks after the hurricane, we are shown places that Kimberly and Scott visited only days after the storm. Their anger is not shown in a confronting way. Instead, it is hidden inside disappointment and sadness from what had already occurred. We watch them get treated with disrespect by those in charge. Again, not in a confronting way. It is in the look that some military personnel gave them and sometimes how their questions-like why the rescue teams were not there when they were needed most-were answered. These were justified questions because they came from people who lost everything: possessions, trust in their government, loved ones. But these only scratch the surface. Some tragedies can only be experienced to be believed. I was especially horrified by the reality of empty houses with dead bodies. The houses were supposed to have been inspected and the corpses properly dealt with, but the bodies were left to be discovered by civilians. You will not believe where and how people who were supposed to be taking care of the survivors spent their time. "Trouble the Water" is special because it is given a specific human stamp despite the national disaster. Kimberly's well of optimism moved me. She has talent, too. At one point, she gives us a performance, a song that details her very troubled past, what helped her get to where she is, and her inspiration to move forward. In a way, she is New Orleans: despite its flaws therein lies an indomitable spirit. Film-Review.org

Una lección de fuerza, coraje y solidaridad. Una muestra de la hipocresía política y de la discriminación. Un retrato de nuestros tiempos.

A fascinating and shocking look at the tragedy and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for the people who couldn't leave and lived through it. It manages to critique the inaction and mismanagement by the government while also telling an uplifting story. This is a must watch documentary!

Amazing documentary that effectively highlights the Bush administration's lack of response to the disaster at hand. Is at times both inspirational and heartbreaking.

A documentary made inside the disaster from Hurricane Katrina. Amazing how they survived and shocking how the low income citizens are neglected.

Enlightening. Thought provoking. Saddening. Awesome. A must see.

Unfortunately Deal and Lessin had to deal with Spike Lee's "epic" on the Hurricane and will forever have to be compared with that work. Thankfully, it is good and in most cases this is more poignant than Lee's excessive piece.

A gritty, first-person narrative tells the story of an incredible catastrophe in New Orleans.

Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her family survive Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. The film takes several pot shots at the Bush Administration and the local governments in their handling of the disaster, and it sets up its primary subject as a hero, a survivor in the face of unimaginable hardship. Politically, I agree with the film's disdain, and although it took me a while to like Roberts, by the end of the film, I admired her even if I don't know how long we could sustain a conversation in real life. Overall, it's biased, but <i>Trouble the Water</i> is ultimately an important film.

Look, assholes: documentaries are biased. All films are biased. All video clips arranged in montage are biased. The act of selecting footage and editing is inherently biased towards authorial preference. So the idea that a "true" documentary has no bias is damn foolishness and indicates no knowledge of film. That being said, I don't want to review this movie, because I don't want to hear what the fucking Republicans have to say about it, but it moved me, it provokes anger and great sadness, it's an outstanding nonfiction film for those with empathy who aren't judgmental fuckers.

A ground level coverage of one black American familiy fighting for firstly survival and then to rebuild their lives as a result of Hurricane Katrina. It's a fantastic companion piece to Spike Lee's opus and introduces us to a truly remarkable woman. Come the revolution GW better be the first up against the wall.

Hooray for inadequate response from the gov't in one of the worst natural disasters in this nation!

Fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

People just make me sick sometimes. All of that nonesense could have been avoided and lots of lives could have been saved if people weren't so ignorant, and selfish.

Interesting combination of "found footage" and documentary style

"Trouble the Water" goes inside the Hurricane Katrina nightmare like no news report ever did, and it's for this reason alone that the film is a must-view. Having said that, I found myself to be strangely detatched from certain elements and wanting more from the film. I had to remind myself that some of what I was looking for in the film was not what the film was trying to accomplish. I would have liked to have seen more individual stories of hurricane victims, but instead, we are given only one story -- that of Kimberly Rivers Roberts. This is because the majority of the documentary's footage is Kimberly's own. (Never mind the fact that I wondered for long periods of time how it was that she came in possession of a video camera, how she paid for the tapes, and how she kept the footage from being destroyed.) Because this large-scale disaster is only shown through the viewpoint of one person, it is similar to a "Night"-like approach to the Holocaust in that its humanity lies in focusing a huge tragedy down to the personal touch of witnessing one person's experience with it. Personally, I wanted more than just Kimberly's story, as compelling as it was. For this reason, I much preferred Spike Lee's more expansive look at Hurricane Katrina for HBO, "When the Levees Broke." "Trouble the Water" was nominated for Best Documentary Feature this year and was considered to be a sentimental favorite, though it lost to the much better (if you ask me) "Man on Wire." I think people should watch this film to really understand the situation from a zoomed-in point of view. But my brain wanted to tackle the politics of the debacle, the scope of the chaos and the heartbreak of the devesation with more expanse that this film aimed to provide. All of this is to say that for what it was, "Trouble the Water" was very good. I struggled because of what it wasn't that I was looking for instead.