Lights, camera, action: Spike Lee at work on If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise, a follow-up to When the Levees Broke.
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Had Spike Lee ended If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise as planned with the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl victory, his documentary would have taken on a vastly different tone from the four-hour film premiering Monday on HBO (9 ET/PT).
"This would have been a much more upbeat documentary for sure," says Lee, whose sequel to his 2006 Emmy-winning, Hurricane Katrina film When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts had wrapped shooting two weeks before the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and spill April 20.
At its core, If God Is Willing examines the frustrations and snail-paced comeback of lower and middle-class New Orleans residents trying to rebuild their lives -- or merely survive -- five years after Katrina. Hampered by politics, corporate interests and infighting over efforts to rebuild schools, health care and housing, it's a struggle for many.
Lee spotlights stories of resilience, including Kimberly Polk, whom he first filmed in 2005 grieving at the funeral of her 5-year-old daughter, Serena, among more than 1,800 Katrina-related victims. Polk, who is about to become the first in her family to graduate college, is rebuilding her life as a nurse.
"People's spirits are not going to be broken, their wills are not going to be broken, they're going to keep moving on," Lee says.
But the oil spill sullied a region primed to celebrate a comeback, even if symbolic, reflected by the New Orleans Saints' surprising NFL championship.
Lee knew he needed to reflect what had happened. "We had to rethink and reconfigure," says Lee, who made eight trips to the region since April, incorporating nearly an hour of spill footage and interviews.
BP executives and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declined Lee's requests for interviews. But polarizing figures such as former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, who was criticized for his decisions after Katrina, weigh in. So does Nagin's successor, Mitch Landrieu, who sheds light on his role: "Being the mayor of this city is like being in an emergency room on the field of battle."
Actor Brad Pitt, whose Make it Right project has spearheaded efforts to build 150 affordable and sustainable homes in the Big Easy's hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward, is prominently featured. Reflecting on those responsible for the oil spill, Pitt can barely contain his contempt.
"I was never for the death penalty before," he says. "I am willing to look at it again."
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