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I try to discourage people from sending me copies of their films to
review. Most are poor and amateurish, and the filmmakers, at best,
ignorant of their weaknesses. When someone has the courage and the
wherewithal to make a film, he or she often believes others should
have the privilege of seeing it. I can’t quarrel with that attitude. I
usually pass on most films that come my way. Occasionally, though, I
get a solicitation that piques my interest, I’m sometimes a sucker for
what seems to be a good idea. Usually I suffer through my private
screening. Sometime I am lucky and I see something that I never
expected to experience.
Recently an announcement of a new documentary about Hurricane Katrina
appeared in my e-mail. My interest tweaked, I asked for and received a
DVD to view. I decided to review this new documentary, “Refuge of Last
Resort” both because the film is an object lesson about the results of
Katrina and also the problems sometimes inherent in making a
documentary. Though it is almost a year since Katrina wrecked New
Orleans and the Gulf Coast, little has really changed and more needs
to be solved. For more detailed information about the film go to the
film’s Web site at
www.refugeoflastresort.net.
Directed and filmed in high definition video by James L Bills, a
native of New Orleans, “Refuge of Last Resort” is the story of Bill’s
family during those first days of the hurricane and its immediate
aftermath. This is the first documentary film shot by Bills. Produced
by Al Gomez who normally makes films of dramatic narrative and light
comedy, Gomez and his team were in New Orleans producing what he
calls, “ a little vampire movie.” He says, “I happened to have been at
the wrong place at the right time. The hurricane raced through the
city and certainly changed my life in more ways that I could have
imagined.” Thus, we have this film of those first horrible days of
Hurricane Katrina.
First, here are the positives. It is well shot in high definition
video. The footage is crisp; it has good, deep focus and sharp color.
Some scenes were new to me as the shooting took place inside New
Orleans in places Bills and his camera knew to go and the media did
not. Muted music nicely compliments many sequences. The natural sound
is crisp and sometimes eerie. The film conveys how dreadful the
situation was and, in many ways, still is.
There are, however, major problems with the movie. I feel it is
documentary in search of itself. Somewhere inside the footage and the
strong, though too long interviews there is a substantial documentary
struggling to emerge. The interviews are unrelenting in how they run
on without stopping. I understand what the production teams tried to
do, but talking head interviews always need some relief in the form of
pictures other than the interviewee’s face, no matter how moving. I am
assuming there was other original footage they shot which was not
used. That could have served as fresh material to help cover those
interviews, and give more meaning to what the people were saying on
camera.
I can understand the anger, the frustration, and yes, the fear that
comes through in the interviews. I can understand attacking the rescue
operation, and the lack of organization on every level, including
questions about where the charitable donations went. One of the more
telling sequences comes when we see truck after truck carrying
portable toilets into New Orleans. Then we see the toilets lined up on
the street. The narrator says, “Hundreds of toilets, pristine and new,
not serving anyone.” There was a need for these clean, spanking new
blue cabins, but other needs such as food and water loomed larger for
the populace still in the city. These are important, continuing
elements of the disaster that are still playing out on America’s TV
screens. The stories people tell in the film of the difficulties they
had in the first few days, finding food and water, desperately trying
to survive under extreme conditions, are worth hearing again.
Unfortunately, these stories are not unique and that should sadden us
al.
For me, the film is not a complete success. My lament is wishing it
could have been better. As hurricane season fast approaches, it is a
film worth seeing to remind us how bad things were in those first
desperate, ugly days in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. If a
hurricane hits again, imagine, if you can how really bad life will be
for those few who have returned home seeking a normal life and worse,
for those who remain. Just imagine that and shudder because it is all
we might be able to do. This film helps us remember, as all we can
only do is look ahead to the unknown.
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At NBC News for 35 years, Ron Steinman was bureau chief
in Saigon, Hong Kong and London, was a senior producer on Today and wrote
and produced for Sunday Today. At ABC News Productions, he produced
and wrote documentaries for A&E, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime and the
History Channel. He has a Peabody, a National Headliner award, a
National Press Club award, a International Documentary Festival Gold
Camera Award, two American Women in Radio & Television awards and
has been nominated for five Emmy's. He is a partner in
Douglas/Steinman Productions, whose latest documentary, "Luboml: My
Heart Remembers," aired on PBS' WLIW/21 and the History Channel in
Israel, April 29, 2003. He is the author of, "The Soldiers 'Story",
"Women in Vietnam," and most recently, "Inside Television's First
War: A Saigon Journal," University of Missouri Press, 2002. |
