The Old Man and the Storm

Originally broadcast on the PBS-aired Frontline series, June Cross' documentary The Old Man and the Storm—filmed in post-Katrina New Orleans—focuses on Herbert Gettridge, an 82-year-old fifth-generation New Orleans man from the Lower Ninth Ward, whose struggle to rebuild his home and neighborhood would come to symbolize the myriad reconstruction problems in the wake of the hurricane. Gettridge's indefatigable mission stood in direct opposition to federal and state plans (not to mention the insurance industry) regarding the neighborhood's fate, as few movers and shakers shared Gettridge's dream of bringing the Ninth and its scattered residents back to a pre-Katrina existence. For Gettridge, the exile of the city's uprooted was also a personal battle: his wife Lydia was in Wisconsin with their daughter, unwilling to return to a home in ruins. The Old Man and the Storm also highlights the mercurial nature of the media's focus on New Orleans: although Gettridge was briefly the center of attention from the press, reporters soon moved on while Gettridge and his neighbors continued to struggle without any outside help. A compelling story of a quietly heroic figure caught up in one of America's worst contemporary tragedies, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)