Guus Bosman

In the last couple of years there have been a lot of movies and documentaries about Katrina and its aftermath. Trouble The Water is the best I have seen so far.

I saw this movie on the last day of the Full Frame Festival, when it was screened again on Sunday morning since it had won the Grand Jury Award.

Two 'street hustlers' in the 9th ward in New Orleans have no car, no money and decide to stay in the city during the hurricane ("we have no wheels"). With a hand held camera they record everything that happens during the hurricane, when the levees break, and in the weeks afterwards. The main characters are full of live, and they try to stay upbeat during everything that happens.

The government is completely overwhelmed by what happened, and the film shows how this impacts their lives and that of others around them. It was a great movie, and while I prefer Nerakhoon to win, this documentary is worthy of the Oscar nomination it received.