This 256-minute, 3 disc Spike Lee documentary on the impact of Hurricane Katrina humanizes the horrifying governmental failure in the wake of a natural tragedy.

Lee lets New Orleans and its residents speak for themselves. The music is straight from the Big Easy.

Katrina was a third-world response to a horrific event. It would have been a first-world response if the victims were largely white Republicans. There's no question about that.

This widely acclaimed, sweeping HBO 4-part documentary ought to go into the Smithsonian for its breadth, compassion and how it takes its cues from the residents of New Orleans themselves.

From HBO: Three months after Katrina struck, Lee, cameraman Cliff Charles and a small crew made the first of eight trips to New Orleans to conduct interviews and shoot footage for the film. With so many people affected, Lee had a wide range of subjects and opinions to choose from. "Spike wanted to offer multiple points of view," says his longtime editor, Sam Pollard. "He needed to represent the voices from the community, the different levels of government, activists and the celebrity element to provide a balanced take on the issues facing New Orleans."

Lee and his team selected close to 100 people from diverse backgrounds and representing a wide range of opinions to interview, including Governor Kathleen Blanco; Mayor Ray Nagin; residents Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, Kimberly Polk, Shelton "Shakespeare" Alexander and Rev. Williams; activists Al Sharpton and Harry Belafonte; CNN's Soledad O'Brien; and musicians Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Kanye West.

Lee uses key elements of New Orleans' cultural legacy to illustrate its history of surviving against the odds. Long before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and its citizens developed coping strategies for dealing with tragedy. Its aboveground cemeteries are not only practical, but evidence of a people used to the sight of death. The traditional jazz funerals - musical parades that mourn death, and then celebrate life - serve as testament to that fact. [End of HBO excerpt]