Rebirth on the Bayou? intimately follows three families since their lives were upended by Hurricane Katrina. From a few weeks after the storm through its third anniversary, the film documents the families’ struggle to rebuild their lives. The film highlights the human instinct for survival and the power of home, and forces viewers nationwide to ask the crucial question: Is my city prepared for disaster?
Rhonda Smith, nearly 50, worked two jobs to support her two children, grandmother, and granddaughter. They evacuated to Houston, unable to return to New Orleans without a job willing to house her family. Ricky Fredericks escaped his house in a boat and saved nearly a dozen people. He feels betrayed that he saw no other rescuers for 5 days as the waters rose over 12 feet. And finally, the Jacksons stem from a long line of fishermen in St. Bernard Parish, which suffered 100% damage. Losing two boats, the mainstay of their income, and waiting for FEMA or insurance, they can neither return home nor start over. Their lives hang in limbo.
Weaving verité footage and interviews with home video journals, the film provides an inside look at the difficulties these families face in rebuilding and the will to survive—even when the institutions designed to ease obstacles place more before you. Interviews with civic heads from cities across the country pepper the film, providing insight into other cities’ preparation.
Three families with three distinct backgrounds all long for their home, New Orleans. “It’s the flavor,” says Rhonda, so powerful people fight to return though it is flood-prone and has struggled to stay economically afloat for decades before Hurricane Katrina drowned nearly 80% of it. At once unique in America and uniquely American, New Orleans’ cultural history seeps through every pore of the city.
“What’s America without New Orleans?” proclaims Ricky. For much of the country, the memory of Katrina has faded and rebuilding has lost its sense of urgency. But the country had no disaster on this scale and has since failed in subsequent disasters. Rebirth on the Bayou? can serve as a “disaster-response manual” for the nation. Furthermore, New Orleans is in a unique position to rebuild itself almost entirely and reshape its future. If the city in rebirth addresses the class and race issues that have plagued it for years, it may serve as a model for urban renewal.
This film explores the question: Can we as a nation convert crisis into opportunity?