Spike Lee marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a new documentary project that once again puts New Orleans and its people at the center of a national reckoning. Released as Katrina: Come Hell and High Water on Netflix, the three-part series isn’t pitched as a formal Spike Lee Joint, but as a capstone to his Katrina work. The centerpiece, a 88-minute segment directed by Lee, is complemented by two opening episodes directed by Geeta Ghandbir and Samantha Knowles that frame the broader context of the storm’s impact and the city’s recovery.
The Netflix project opens with a recurring heartbeat of poetry and prayer. In God Takes Care of Fools and Babies, Lee circles back to the testimonies of residents who lived through the breach of the levees, the urgent evacuations, and the long aftermath that followed. The documentary then shifts to a wary but hopeful position: after years of alarming facts and painful statistics about preventable deaths, mismanagement, and cultural erasure, Lee leans into faith in the people who stayed, rebuilt, and continued to fight for accountability.
Key voices from the broader Katrina story reappear across Come Hell and High Water. Lt. General Russel L. Honoré, who led the military relief effort, is heard laying bare the city’s lack of preparation and the government’s frustratingly slow response. Shelton “Shakespear” Alexander recollects the traffic gridlock, gas shortages, and the enormous obstacles faced by residents who chose to ride out the storm. Gralen Banks, then the Hyatt’s director of safety and loss prevention, adds the local perspective on how families coped with displacement and danger.
The documentary also revisits the intimate, devastating memory of families on the move—like Robert Lynn Green Sr., who recalls the moment his home was carried by floodwaters and the search for his granddaughters in a torrent of debris. These first-hand accounts anchor the series in lived experience, underscoring the human cost of a disaster that stubbornly resists neat timelines.
A second episode, Shelter of Last Resort, concentrates on the period after the levees broke: inside the Superdome and the flooded streets outside, where the nation watched a crisis unfold in real time. The testimony touches on well-known flashpoints—Kanye West’s comment on television about George Bush’s response, the controversial images that shaped public perception, and the disconnect between what residents needed and what authorities delivered.
In parallel to the Netflix release, National Geographic presents Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, a five-episode docuseries directed by Traci A. Curry. This companion piece uses extensive archival footage, maps, and a broad cast of participants—from law enforcement and first responders to residents and city officials—to chart a meticulous, data-driven chronology of the disaster and its aftermath. The narrative emphasizes how responses were shaped by race and class, and how policies like the Road Home program fell short for many Black homeowners who faced higher barriers to rebuilding.
Race Against Time makes its most searing impact when it confronts systemic inequities in disaster response and recovery. It revisits the bitter truth that the media and authorities often labeled residents seeking necessities as “looters,” and it highlights how delayed aid and misallocated resources left Black communities disproportionately exposed to harm. The series tracks the long arc from immediate crisis to a decade of reconstruction, concluding with a reminder that reforms must outlast political cycles if a city is to weather future storms.
The question Lee threads through Come Hell and High Water is not only what happened, but why it happened and what must change. The filmmaker’s approach—punctuating facts with bold on-screen statements about systemic racism and underscoring testimony with lyrical interludes—reflects a broader shift in his Katrina storytelling: from memorials for the dead to prayers for the living. The closing chapters of the Netflix work feature Phyllis Montana-Leblanc delivering a prayer for New Orleans, alongside a refrain that “20 years to life” has not yet granted true closure for many families affected by the storm. The final moments invite viewers to see the city’s resilience as a work in progress, anchored in community, memory, and collective action.
The films together offer a multi-platform, multi-voice reconstruction of Katrina’s legacy. Lee’s piece foregrounds faith, memory, and moral accountability, while NatGeo’s Race Against Time provides a rigorous, granular map of what happened and why it mattered, with an emphasis on how future policy and practice could avert repeating the same mistakes. Taken as a whole, the anniversary coverage serves as both a reckoning and a call to action: a reminder that the most reliable defense against tragedy remains the people who organize, advocate, and support one another in their darkest hours.
Summary
– Netflix presents Katrina: Come Hell and High Water, a three-part look at New Orleans’s Katrina experience, with Spike Lee guiding a concluding episode that blends poetry, testimony, and moral reflection.
– The two opening installments frame the crisis with witness accounts and context, highlighting systemic failures and the human cost.
– National Geographic counters with Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, a five-episode, data-driven chronology that foregrounds racial bias in the disaster response and the long road to recovery.
– Together, the projects emphasize accountability, community resilience, and the ongoing need to address structural inequities in disaster planning and recovery.
Additional value for readers
– Context: These works come as climate threats and urban resilience remain top of mind. Viewers can better understand how policy choices, funding gaps, and inequities shaped the Katrina aftermath—and why similar dynamics could influence responses to future storms.
– Viewing tips: Netflix’s Come Hell and High Water offers a more reflective, artistically framed ending, while NatGeo’s Race Against Time provides a thorough, chronological deep dive. For a comprehensive picture, watch both to connect personal narratives with policy analysis.
– Takeaway: The anniversary invites not just reflection but action—supporting equitable rebuilding, robust evacuation planning, and accountable governance as New Orleans and other communities confront ongoing climate risks.
Editorial notes for editors
– Highlight the thematic throughlines: the tension between unflinching fact-telling and faith in community, and the shift from remembering tragedy to mobilizing change.
– Consider tying a sidebar to the Road Home program’s history and current policy debates around disaster recovery funding and flood protection.
– Use SEO-friendly subheads such as: Spike Lee’s Katrina: A Turning Point in Enduring Memory and Accountability; Race, Policy, and Resilience in Katrina Anniversary Coverage; From Superdome to Street Level: New Orleans Rebuilds a Quarter Century On.
Overall, the anniversary coverage reinforces the idea that Katrina’s lessons persist beyond stirring footage: without structural reforms and sustained community leadership, the threats posed by future storms remain unaddressed. The films aim to transform remembrance into a blueprint for more equitable, effective action.