GUEST BLOGGER
Danah Williams 

If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise, a documentary presented by HBO films and directed by legendary film maker Spike Lee, visits the city of New Orleans, Louisiana five years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Never one for sugar coating, Spike Lee takes us on an emotional, educational and eye opening journey complete with raw footage from the day the levees failed during the hurricane in 2005 to the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill and even further to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

This Spike Lee Joint opens up with a passionate poem, If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise spoken by a local author and Saint’s fan who is later one of several New Orleans residents to lend an uncut commentary about the city now and then to director Spike Lee, who stays off camera during this film.

Others interviewed include local community leaders, current and former city and state officials and more. They spoke on many subjects including pre and post Katrina housing, entertainment, education, crime employment and the local economy. Don’t get hung up on the word documentary, this film was more than various commentary about the highs and lows of modern day living in New Orleans in regards to Hurricane Katrina. It was a look into the soul of the Who Dat Nation.

I smiled, I gasped and I almost cried at one point. I was educated and entertained and like many other Spike Lee Joints, I recommend If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise to everyone.