Trouble the Water

Aspiring rapper Kimberly Rivers Roberts bought a used video camera the week before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans “to record family events.” A resident of the Ninth Ward, Roberts ended up filming much more than she intended. In the Oscar-nominated documentary Trouble the Water, executive produced by Danny Glover, directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal fashion an angry yet empowering narrative incorporating 15 minutes of Roberts' grainy but horrifying you-are-there footage. Lessin and Deal follow the efforts of Roberts, her husband Scott, and their relatives to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of Katrina, while also casting a jaundiced eye on the forces that would strand decent, hardworking people in their time of greatest need. In allowing the eloquent and charismatic Roberts to tell her story in her own words, the filmmakers avoid polemics or audience manipulation—thereby honoring the experience of one family (who undoubtedly represent countless others). A winner at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, this Oscar-nominated film is highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a Q&A at Roger Ebert's Film Festival 2009 featuring interviews with filmmakers, subjects, critic Richard Roeper, and executive producer Danny Glover (24 min.), 19 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, a 14-minute featurette on the New Orleans community film premiere, a segment in which film subject Kimberly Roberts meets mayor Ray Nagin at the Democratic National Convention (3 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a hard-hitting documentary.] (K. Fennessy)