SLIFF 2010 Review: THE BIG UNEASY

Harry Shearer has been part of the American comedy scene for most of his life. As a child actor he traded barbs with Jack Benny and Lou Costello. He was an early version of Eddy Haskell in the un-aired original TV pilot of Leave it to Beaver. Most of us become big fans with his work starting in the 1980’s as a cast member of SNL, one third of Spinal Tap, and a regular in Christopher Guest’s improv feature films. And of course Harry provides the voices for many residents of Springfield USA on the long running Simpsons TV series. While his previous two features he directed were satirical comedies (PORTRAIT OF A WHITE MARRIAGE and TEDDY BEARS’ PICNIC) he newest is a tough, straight-forward documentary on post Katrina New Orleans, THE BIG UNEASY.

Shearer narrates the film as he walks through the streets of New Orleans, a city where he keeps a home. He gives a time-line of the storm’s immediate impact on the area with a computer graphic of the city and it’s surrounding lakes and streams. It’s startling to see how quickly the blue spreads over the city map. Then the film’s focus shifts to several individuals who tried to find the disaster’s causes and one woman who tried to sound an alarm long before the tragedy. Several barely funded scientific investigators uncover that the failure of the levees goes back to their original construction by the Army Corps of Engineers. A woman employed by the Corp warned them about the inadequate water pumping system and was ignored. We’re shown how the construction of a river by-pass contributed to the overflows. One of the nature’s flood preventers, the wetlands, were weakened by these developers. Later one of the levee investigators is dismissed by LSU over his research. While FEMA took most of the heat back in 2005, this film lays much of  the blame on the Army Corps of Engineers. None of their representatives would speak on camera about Katrina.

That’s not to say that there’s no humor here. Several times Shearer interrupts the investigations with “Ask a Louisianan” in which St. Louisian John Goodman (now a New Orleans resident) , in his best smarmy game show host delivery, poses questions asked by outsiders about the town to a table full of residents(including Shearer). In answering this missives (Why not move New Orleans?Is most of it still underwater?) these natives show great love and enthusiasm for the town. Although much of the film is frustrating, you’ll leave feeling optimistic about this unique part of America.

THE BIG UNEASY will play during the 19th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival on Saturday, November 13th at 3:00 pm at the Hi-Pointe Theatre.