When the Levees Broke - which screened this week on BBC4 - is a forensic four-hour examination of the humanitarian crisis that engulfed New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Expertly weaving news footage with eyewitness accounts, it exposes a federal government caught napping - either not knowing or not caring about the plight of its underclass.
This subject matter is meat-and-drink for Lee, who has long prided himself on his role as a political film-maker, a champion of black America and a thorn in the side of the establishment. The difference is in the handling. Until now Spike Lee's reputation has been built on his tub-thumping dramatic features. Films such as Do the Right Thing or Bamboozled combined righteous rage with youthful exuberance, cajoling the viewer to react. Confronted by the horror of Katrina, however, he has opted to let the evidence do the talking. The result is a devastating picture of social division and official failure, and a film that rings out louder than the bombast of old.
