By Lana K. Wilson-Combs | OBSERVER CORRESOPNDENT

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. - It has been 20 years since Spike Lee burst on the scene with his sexy and controversial movie, “She’s Gotta Have It.” The low-budget, independent film was shot in two weeks and cost a paltry $175,000 to make. However, “She’s Gotta Have It” grossed $8 million at the box office and catapulted the fledgling filmmaker’s career.

Since then, Lee has left an indelible mark on American cinema. He has made audiences laugh, cry and most importantly think with such diverse movies as the Oscar nominated “Do The Right Thing” (1989) followed by, “Mo' Better Blues” (1990), “Jungle Fever” (1991), “Malcolm X” (1992), “Get on the Bus” (1996), “4 Little Girls” (1997) and “He Got Game” (1998) among many others.

Now, Lee has continued his provocative and socio-political filmmaking with the new, riveting HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke.” The film, which debuts on HBO August 21 and August 22 at 6 p.m. PST (encore presentation on August 29 at 5 p.m. PST), is an intimate portrait of New Orleans and the devastating blow the city suffered when Hurricane Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005.

The four-part series of “When the Levees Broke” reveals startling information about the events leading up to Hurricane Katrina. It also features interviews with many of the survivors who lost friends and family, as well as noted celebrities and politicians. “When the Levees Broke” does not sugarcoat the issues. It gives an unapologetic view that the American government shamelessly turned its back on this city and region and particularly on African Americans.

During a recent interview at the Four Seasons Hotel, Lee sat down with journalists to discuss what inspired the noted director/producer to make “When the Levees Broke,” which coincides with the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Lee, dressed in a navy sports coat with an emblem of his beloved New York Yankees baseball team on the chest pocket, blue and white shirt and slacks, spoke with candor and even humor about the documentary.

QUESTION: What was your relationship to New Orleans before making this documentary?

SPIKE LEE: Well, I have a lot of friends there. Terrence Blanchard, Branford and Wynton Marsalis and Wendell Pierce.

Q: At what point did you decide that you wanted to make a documentary and put your team together?

SL: Right away. When I was looking at what everyone else was watching on television.

Q: Were you using your own funds or did you call people to back you up?

SL: No, it was HBO. I called HBO and they said 'OK.'

Q: Was it difficult for you to make “When the Levees Broke” knowing that there hasn’t been any real closure to the Hurricane Katrina situation even after one year?

SL: Yes, that was difficult because the story changed every day. The guy who runs the Corps of Engineers retired or quit. Everyday something was happening. So we had to make adjustments.

Q: How do you identify the people that you want to be in the documentary?

SL: Well, I have a great researcher. Her name is Judy Aley. She made two trips to New Orleans before we got there. She just walked around and met people. So she would shoot me back e-mails with their story. And I would make the determination as to whether we would interview them or not.

Q: Were there many people that were not chosen?

SL: Oh yeah. You can’t interview everybody. And some people don’t want to be interviewed.

Q: How were you affected by your footage?

SL: It affects me. And that’s why we had to be responsible and do this right. When you’re a director, you have many different choices. When we did the other HBO documentary “4 Little Girls,” we had a dilemma because once again my researcher, Judy Aley found the postmortem photographs of “4 Little Girls.” And so when I got them, that decision of should we include these or not kept weighing on me. And I prayed on it. And I made the decision that we had to show what these hundred sticks of dynamite did to these four little black girls. And I knew I was going to show bodies, but it was a matter of how much. I wanted to show as much as I felt the audience could take. And in a way I felt that it was paying respect to these bodies. Who knows whether they received a proper burial or that their remains were united with their families? So in a way that’s how we approached that. But even for me the hardest stuff that I knew had to go in “When the Levees Broke” were like the interviews with Kim
Polk. For me that’s much harder. I’m interviewing her and she’s holding a picture of her 5-year-old daughter. She was gracious enough to let us bring a camera to the funeral. But for me the most poignant shot in the entire four hours is the final shot of episode three. She completely breaks down. Then her little boy runs into the frame completely unaware — just a little kid — that his little sister is dead. And then we fade to black. That happened. We were just there. It was just one of those magical moments that we were able to capture.

Q: There was a lot of footage in your documentary that we didn’t get to see on the news. How did you go about finding that footage?

SL: Once again, Judy Aley, my researcher.

Q: Did she put a call out or did she just go to every station?

SL: That’s her job. That’s her profession. She got me everything that we knew. She found some amazing stuff.

Q: You obviously knew what to ask for. Were you surprised by what she dug up?

SL: There were a lot surprises. But I told her to get everything. I was surprised with the teleconference with Max Mayfield and President Bush. Bush was told before that the levees might top. And later on he contradicts himself by saying to news reporter Diane Sawyer that no one knew that this would happen. There’s a lot of stuff.

Q: What lesson(s) did you come away with after making this documentary?

SL: It’s four hours of stuff that’s very complex. I can’t just give you one thing. It didn’t start out at four hours. We initially approached HBO to do two hours. But halfway in we needed more time. Actually, more time and money. (He laughs). And they gave it to us. But one of the things I came away with and the biggest surprise was how much humor I saw. You would not think going in that this would be funny. And it is not a funny film. But I think that we captured the characters. I mean they are a special breed of people, I mean black or white in New Orleans. That’s something that is a surprise to me. Funny thing. When “Inside Man” was coming out I did an interview for this lady at the New York Observer. In the article I’m talking about that we were in the process of shooting this film. And I said, I want you to help me. Anybody who knows the guy who told Dick Cheney to go f---himself please get in contact with the writer. Anybody who knows the lady who got in Condoleezza Rice’
s face let me know because I want an interview. So somehow we found out who it was and we interviewed him. But to this day, we can’t seem to locate the white lady who got in Condoleezza Rice’s face at the Ferragamo shoe store. So either she’s camera shy or she’s dead.

Q: How did you decide--since there was so much information--to break it down in four parts?

SL: It was easy. I just said that we needed some structure so we said, let’s divide it into four halves.

Q: There is so much in the documentary that we didn’t get on the news and there are people who don’t have HBO. Was there any thought of making this theatrical before going to four hours?

SL: No. They were not going to do that. We are going to be at some film festivals with it. We’re going to be at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival. I think a lot of other TV like the BBC; people like that may buy it. And it might be small limited release. I hope for that.

Q: There were a lot of conspiracy theories with the explosions and all. Even the lieutenant governor dismissed it. A lot of black people in those areas had their theories about what happened. Are you concerned that people will dismiss this as just black people talking?

SL: No I’m not concerned about it.

Q: People were saying that actor Sean Penn was going out for exposure when Hurricane Katrina happened. Why did he come down there?

SL: I don’t think I have to justify that. He’s a great humanitarian. I mean he went down there with a shotgun. He was saving lives. Sean is genuine. To me personally, I felt that it would be like I didn’t want to question why he was there so that’s why I didn’t include that and that’s why I didn’t ask him that.

Q: Is the Mackie person in the film, actor Anthony Mackie’s brother?

SL: Yes, they are brothers.

Q: Do you think parents should be involved in watching “When the Levees Broke” with their kids?

SL: I don’t think a 10-year-old can see this, but a teenager could see this.

Q: This is a film that you’re likely going to hear about from a lot of people on both sides especially the right wing. There are a lot of crazy people out there. Do you ever get afraid when you make documentaries or films like this?

SL: No not me, but Ray Nagin (mayor of New Orleans) talks about being ejected and Kanye West talks about having his last drink.

Q: How do you feel when you expose situations like these?

SL: Well, that’s my job.

Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a syndicated music and entertainment writer who lives in Sacramento. Contact her at Lanawriter@worldnet.att.net.