By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Full Frame surveys nine new Katrina docs
David Fellerath of Raleigh-Durham’s Independent reports on Desert Bayou, a Full Frame docfest entry that looks at what happened when victims of Katrina were wholesale, involuntarily relocated to Utah: “If 9/11 was the singular catalyzing event of this young American century, Katrina may well have been the singular paralyzing event. While the U.S. president seemed dumbstruck, blindsided and flat-footed in the face of both calamities, it’s undeniable that the 9/11 attacks stirred largely uniform reactions of sorrow, rage and calls to assistance and action… But when Katrina churned up the Gulf, confusion and demoralization resulted. It was a disaster without a savior in sight… and a shockingly inept emergency response apparatus. The most powerful culture in the planet’s history couldn’t help its own citizens, a surprising number of whom seemed to be desperately poor.” Chicago docmaker Alex LeMay got his funding in 5 days and was in New Orleans four days later. LeMay “tracks the fate of 600 African Americans who were airlifted without their knowledge or consent to the heavily white and Mormon realm of Utah. It’s one of nine Katrina documentaries [in the festival]…
What is most striking about these early Katrina documentaries is the portrayal of a bewildering lack of order—our inability to respond effectively to an act of God… LeMay, who calls his film a “classic fish-out-of-water story,” reports that 600 black New Orleanians were subjected to humiliating searches, background checks and nasty insinuations about their fitness to live among the denizens of a state that is less than 1 percent non-white. While the Mormon Church, which only renounced the racist elements of its creed in 1978, comes in for scrutiny, “It’s not an anti-Mormon film, but you cannot go to Salt Lake City without thinking about the Church of Latter Day Saints,” LeMay says. [Details about eight more Katrina pics at the link; the vivid Desert Bayou trailer is here.]