When the Levees Broke

This movie was vital to watch. When the Levees Broke reiterated a lot of coverage that I have already seen, but with more passion. It was more realistic and informative because the storm was covered through the points of views of people who actually experienced Katrina.
I never really thought hard enough about the total effect of Katrina, afterwards. I realize that people lost their homes and belongings. More importantly people lost their friends, family, and pets. If I were to sit there and watch one of my family members die, I don’t know what I would do. There are people whose health has gone downhill: people who can’t sleep at night because they can’t get the image of their mothers, fathers, daughters, or sons, dying out of their heads: people who can’t function properly without depression pills: people who were separated from their families and never got a chance to say goodbye. These are things that continuously run through my mind, especially after watching this video and hearing about some of the losses.
There was one woman, who was a lawyer, in the third act that explained how she and her husband had been educated well and were doing good before Katrina. They went from leading this good life to having nothing at all. Nothing mattered, not even their education. Another man explained that people think they know what they’ll do in a time of tragedy, but when tragedy strikes, there‘s no way to be prepared. I found this interesting because people work so hard to live. Like the rest of use, A lot of these people have spend their whole lives trying to earn enough money to make a living and in the end it doesn’t really matter, which leads me to my next point.
I have read and heard a lot about Katrina, but one thing that I was oblivious to, was how badly insurance companies cooperated with the hurricane victims. I couldn’t believe it. Especially the one eighty-year old man who had been with his insurance company for fifty years and paid his bills, and he didn’t even get back what half of his house was worth. I realize this is reality, but it stinks. After eighty years, he essentially has to start from scratch.
Towards the end of the film they show people celebrating Mardi Gras. It was hard for me to understand at first why they would even bother, but after what I’ve stated above, I can’t imagine anything else more necessary.