Theatrical Review of Hurricane on the Bayou

---

Tools:
Send to a friend »

---

Sometimes, despite the best of intentions and a compelling story, a movie just doesn´t quite come together the way it should. Such is the case with the IMAX exclusive "Hurricane on the Bayou," which plays like a Weather Channel special on why Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans when nature had provided safeguards in the past.

The issue with the film-clocking in at a brisk 45 minutes-is it lacks a driving focus. Is it supposed to teach about the history of wetlands? Or what humans have done to destroy natural protections? What common people are doing to rebuild the area? The devastation Katrina brought to the region? "Hurricane on the Bayou" just doesn´t know. In a regular, feature-length film, the competing storylines would be able to be fully fleshed out, allowing for a full narrative.

Initially, Meryl Streep introduces what should be the plot: how wetlands are created and why they have been important to the survival of cities in the path of hurricanes. Abruptly, two individuals are introduced: musicians Tab Benoit and Amanda Shaw. They are performing in a benefit to raise awareness of the wetlands shortly before Katrina hit. As the storm crashes on the shore, we´re briefly taken inside the storm. Then, as both Tab and Amanda return to their homes, what seems to be footage from CNN or another news outlet takes over; the devastation, the loss, the uncertainty.

None of the characters elicit emotional loyalty because their stories-frankly-aren´t as gripping as they probably should be. Anderson Cooper got more mileage reporting from a destroyed home than these two people get put together. Part of me thinks this is because "Hurricane on the Bayou" feels as though it was created after Katrina hit…the pre-Katrina sequences restaged. It´s entirely too coincidental both Tab and Amanda are fighting for protection of wetlands. It´s too simple to think the camera-an IMAX camera, to boot- was with both of them before the storm.

I hate to keep harping on the story, but it is the framework around which everything we see is hung. The story simply doesn´t work and no amount of fancy shots of alligators or snakes or birds in the marshes can save "Hurricane on the Bayou." With The Weather Channel as a producer, one would think the weather storyline would take center stage. Detailed explanations of what happened and why it happened, graphs, charts, maps…the stuff which "An Inconvenient Truth" is vilified for. It´s just not here.

Above and beyond the story problems, the IMAX format is another issue. Not that the production looks bad-the promise of what IMAX is capable of is ever take advantage of. Seeing an alligator in the marsh on the massive screen is more detailed than anything we´ve seen on The Discovery Channel, but the audience is oddly detached from the action. We´re supposed to feel like we´re part of the story; instead, it´s little more than a television special on the disaster.

What the film does do, to its great advantage, is lay the blame for the disaster where it belongs: on the human beings. The unintelligence of engineers who designed levees, the people who didn´t stop the building of homes below sea level. There´s not a mention of the so-called conspiracy against lower class people by the current administration or other political jabbing we´ve become accustomed to. Really, the names of the people who put this disaster in motion decades ago aren´t even mentioned. There´s just no reason for it and instead of sinking to political theater, "Hurricane on the Bayou" remains above the fray.

It all comes back to the story in the end, sadly. An hour and a half would have barely begun to scratch the surface of the issues surrounding protecting our environment and forty-five is a drop in the bucket. If the countless hours of television coverage started the process immediately after Katrina, this is the Cliffs Notes version, the easily palatable for those with short attention spans. The information is too valuable, too important, for something so short. It deserves-maybe even demands-more.

"Hurricane on the Bayou," playing in limited release at IMAX theaters, rates a 6 out of 10. It can serve as a primer for a deeper discussion about the environment in a way neither "The 11th Hour" or "An Inconvenient Truth" can. This film doesn´t preach, isn´t loaded with star power and has remained relatively out of the limelight. Still, it needs more: more information, more time…and possibly a bit more preaching.

---

---