If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise

In 2006, director Spike Lee created an astonishing record of the cataclysmic effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans with his epic award-winning documentary, When the Levees Broke. Five years later, Lee returns to New Orleans, to see how the ambitious plans to reinvent the Crescent City were playing out. He finds a patchwork of hope and heartache just as a new disaster unfolds.

If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise is a four hour continuation of the story of the rebirth of the Big Easy, begun in Lee’s previous epic.

The city’s ability to celebrate life with unmatchable ebullience is documented by Lee alongside the successes and failures in the ongoing efforts to restore a battered but unbowed community.

More than 300 people directly affected by the spill share their stories. As a documentarian, Lee is unparalleled in his capacity to coach his subjects into letting their guards down and he effectively accuses all concerned — the media, the government and BP — of lying about the magnitude and long-term impact of the damage.