The Big Uneasy (2010) User Reviews

Informative Must See Documentary

[TheExpatriate700 · 8/10 · 26 March 2012]

The Big Uneasy is a too little seen documentary by Harry Shearer, the comic actor and host of the PRI program Le Show. Focusing on the structural failures that led to flooding during Hurricane Katrina. Far from a natural disaster, the flooding was a product of negligence and poor management by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Shearer traces the failures, and the Corps's refusal to implement real reforms, through several perspectives, including a woman working within the Corps and a scientist at Louisiana State University. A number of poor decisions by the Corps of Engineers set the floods in motion, including the construction of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, which destroyed vital storm surge absorbing wetlands by allowing salt water in. Furthermore, the levees meant to protect New Orleans were built on weak, sandy ground which allowed water to seep through.

The most disturbing aspect of the film is the unwillingness of the Corps or Louisiana state authorities to acknowledge or correct their mistakes. Whistleblowers are intimidated and stonewalled, while academics at state universities lose their jobs for speaking out. In the face of such intransigence, New Orleans seems destined to repeat the disaster all over again.

It is pathetic that we need to rely on the drummer from Spinal Tap to bring this information to us. It testifies to the spinelessness of the mainstream media. Shearer's radio program, Le Show, is arguably the most informative program on NPR. If only more journalists had his talent for investigation.

Harry Shearer Gets Serious

[ThePauls · 10/10 · 11 August 2010]

Caught an early screening of "The Big Uneasy" tonight. It opens nationwide August 30th. Harry Shearer goes deep into the causes of the Katrina flooding with engrossing interviews with the major whistleblowers, who collectively pointed out that the floods were the result of shoddy work by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, dating back to long before Katrina. This is a film with clear cut good guys and bad guys, and hits all the bases of how the floods happened, how the aftermath was dealt with (or not), the backstory on what caused the failures of the levees, the govt spin, and the professional costs to those who bravely investigated the causes and made public what they learned. Good New Orleans atmosphere. And a memorable moment with Sen. Vitter, of all people. Is very well done. Good for Harry. He took his passion for New Orleans, his journalistic skills and political smarts and made them into something.

Every American must see this movie

[winnie-h-robinson · 10/10 · 31 August 2010]

I wish every American could see this movie! I want to thank Mr. Shearer for spending his own money to make such an enlightening film that presented straightforward scientific fact while it also pulled at your heartstrings.

This was the clearest explanation and illustration of the hour-by-hour floodwall breaches and the structural causes of the breaches that I have seen. And I have read and seen a lot about it post-Katrina! The film brilliantly outlined the Corps' decades of incompetence that led to New Orleans flooding. The film also beautifully articulated why it's so important for this country to care about what happens to New Orleans – for all the cultural AND economic reasons.

I really appreciated the opportunity to learn about all the potential there is to save New Orleans and the wetlands – it's not too late if we act now. The visions of what the city could be if we utilized Dutch engineering were beautiful and so much more logical than what the Corps is currently constructing. But I fear there is little hope that those in charge will ever have the intelligence to utilize the Dutch resources. But one small step to educate the country is to have everyone you know see this movie when it comes out on DVD!

A solid film with a sense of purpose

[kvolou · 1 September 2010]

Thirty minutes into Harry Shearer's film, the Big Uneasy, it is clear what Shearer sought to do with this film.

His goal in Uneasy? To cut through a pile of facts, lies and half-truths and get to the bottom of one of the biggest debates in our country's recent history.

Was the devastation of Hurricane Katrina the result of a monster storm no city could ever prepare for? Or was it the result of a rogue federal agency making up the rules as it went along and ignoring their own experts and their own science? As you might have guessed the answer is the latter.

But before you get to the crux of the matter, told convincingly by respected engineers and a key whistle-blower, you get the best yet video graphic explanation of just where and when the city began to flood.

The how and why comes later.

The first 15 minutes of this film should be part of any college course that studies why Katrina was so devastating. The balance of the film, sans a few odd editing decisions that actually distracted me from the message, builds point by point a case for the obliteration of the Corps of Engineers.

Shearer does to the Corps in this film what mainstream media did to FEMA, he paints the agency as a caricature. His humor, in a very Mr. Burns kind of way, is conveyed with a dry wit that leaves defenders of the Corps stuttering and stumbling, reaching for an explanation when clearly the one explanation there is they would be fired for uttering.

Shearer's film is a true journalistic effort, a documentary that gathered facts first, then drew conclusions later. In other words, this is no Bowling for Columbine.

While visually the film will not engage you in the same way that Spike Lee's If God Is Willing' does, it is every bit as journalistically sound, if not more so.

Shearer's film is a tell-all of the highest Hollywood order, only in this case those being called out aren't beautiful people with stars on the Walk of Fame, but heretofore no-names whose failures merit their own wall of shame.

It is a must see for anyone who loves New Orleans, who loves honesty and loves good journalism.

Just part of the story

[edalweber · 10/10 · 29 September 2010]

This film certainly eliminates one of the alleged "culprits", the hurricane, and hits the nail squarely on the head in showing that this was a MAN MADE disaster that could have been easily prevented.But that is only part of the story.the flooding of the city west of the Industrial Canal was PARTLY the fault of the Corps but even more the result of deliberate, premeditated criminality on the part of Mayor "Slimy Sidney" Barthelemy and the New Orleans City Hall Gang.Barthelemy was warned by the veteran engineers of the Sewage & Water Board, which controls the drainage canals,when they say the plans for the proposed floodwalls, that they would never hold.they were "rewarded" by being PURGED by Barthelemy.The city had one of the most powerful congressional delegations in the country, including Robert Livingston, which got Barthelemy BILLIONS in pork.They were easily powerful enough to force the Corps to build REAL floodwalls instead of PHONEY ones, but that is NOT what the politicians wanted.They wanted to be able to GORGE themselves on GRAFT from the Billions in "disaster relief" that they knew would pour into the city when it was flooded by the next big hurricane that hit, and one was long overdue.Like a businessman who torches his own property to collect the insurance, TO THEM the city was worth more DEAD than ALIVE.And ever since the disaster they have been feasting like vultures on that graft;virtually all of the "federal aid" went to the PERPETRATORS of this tragedy, not to their VICTIMS.But everyone is grateful to Mr. Shearer for keeping this in the public eye, and as long as it is there is at least a slight chance that justice will finally be done.

A Piece Well Put!

[futhark30 · 9/10 · 11 June 2011]

The film's central argument is portrayed clearly and effectively throughout, discussing the role the Army Corp Of Engineers had in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina. It was convincing and informative, drawing attention to an interesting element of the disaster I personally was not familiar with.

At the same time, the material avoided being dry or overly technical, offering an infusion of the New Orleans character in the presentation, the occasional splash of dry humor, and a deeply personal element as it went into the lives and unfortunate outcomes of those who offered evidence in the making of this movie. That last element additionally was personal enough to remind me of those I've known over the years that embody an unrelenting dedication to their ideals despite the consequences.

Viewing it, I was attentive as the evidence mounted at a constant rate throughout the picture, and drawn in to the personal stories of those who were involved in the events to transpire.

The Big Uneasy review

[mpech2 · 9/10 · 23 October 2013]

The Big Uneasy is a documentary that kept me very interested the whole time. The host of the documentary kept the watcher very interested and up to par with what was going on in the film. I really like how the film showed multiple cases of the problems that the US corps had done wrong in ensuring the safety of Louisiana. The low quality of the levee's durability actually surprised me and disturbed because the Corps task was to ensure the safety of the city. Since that was not done, many more people lost their homes and even their lives. The investigation team did a really good job of cracking the codes and helping the community to ensure the safety for the next time. I was shocked that the team said that Katrina was not a natural disaster. The disaster was the Corps fault for not correctly using their funds for the safety of the community. What also kept me interested was as to why the Corps thought it was okay to not fund the pumping system and the levee walls accordingly. It is saddening that a city was damaged so much when it did not need to be. Overall, I really enjoyed the story behind the hurricane. I never knew how serious the problems were behind the catastrophe.

To elaborate more on the main problem with Katrina. The Corps had much to blame for the damage caused by what mother nature had done. Funding was not appropriately appointed to by the Corps and nothing was done about it until it was too late. The team of investigators got down to the core of the problem and appointed why the Corps was wrong in what they did. The Corps spent their funding money on a pointless system that was not as effective as the other system that would have prevented a lot of damage. The team of investigators had other plans to prevent damage from hitting the city. The Corps used their hierarchy to their advantage and did not fund accordingly to keep the safety of the public in their control.

The damage of the city was way worse than it should of been according to the team of investigators. Pumping systems and levy walls failed very quickly causing much more damage than expected. The ground that the levees were constructed on did not have the support needed to keep the water from breaching into to the land. This is the first problem because the walls were constructed to prevent water from over taking it. The ground where the walls failed was very sandy underneath. Sand underneath a constructed wall does not take on the support needed to prevent water from breaching. When water levels rose, the water seeped through the sand and loosened up the ground, leading to a collapse of the wall and breach of the water into the public infested land. The second problem in the damage done was the failing water pumps. The pumps were built to pump excess water out. The pumps failed and water rushed into the land. The Corps had funding to make sure these pumps worked, and when they failed, the city of Louisiana was crushed and destroyed by what was supposed to be prevented. The city thought they were protected by these systems and in reality they were not. It is a shame that the Corps, with such responsibility and trust, could not care for the people of their city and protect them appropriately with the equipment needed. Especially when the Corps had the funding to do so.

The investigation team really put their effort into cutting into this problem. They went to local businesses to get their interpretation of the problem, they took the Corps to court and appointed all their mistakes, and they went to major sites where the damage was clear and studied what had gone wrong with the operating systems. Many people had the back of the investigative team and wanted the Corps to be put to blame for a lot of the damage. Some people lost their jobs for not taking the Corps side and were looked at in the wrong as if they had caused the damages. The team kept pushing and eventually got the Corps to spend their funding efficiently and construct new systems to prevent another disaster like that again.

With some justice and faith, a group of people attended the problem and solved it and "The Big Uneasy" showed exactly how it was done. The film showed who was in the wrong, why they wanted justice, and how the problem was fixed and justice was served. The film did a great job of appointing the situation and getting a conclusion.