DVD review: If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise"

Toiling largely in the shadows of popular culture, Spike Lee is nonetheless doing some of his most important, insightful and yes, entertaining work in telling the story of New Orleans, as he first did with "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" and now with "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," coming to DVD on April 19.

Lee returns to the city five years after it was thoroughly savaged by Hurricane Katrina, framing his story with ecstasy and then agony, starting with the Saints' victory in the Super Bowl and wrapping things up (four hours later) with an examination of the BP oil spill. And, through interviews with people who have either stuck it out there, managed to return or simply moved on, he tries, in the early segments, to get at the psyche of the Crescent City. It is, as several people note, a city with both a serious inferiority complex and schizophrenia, where, as one woman states, it's a "blessing and a privilege" to live, even as the disasters keep coming.

As he does with his best works of fiction ("Bamboozled" and "Get on the Bus" in my book), Lee lays out the city's dilemma in words and images that are equally striking. It's hard to argue when you hear residents describe the shackling of housing projects as "ethnic cleansing" or later when the term "dispersants" is used for much more than something to spread out spilled oil. It's with images, however, that Lee makes his most penetrating points, as when he uses the stone steps that are often all that remain to introduce a segment about the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, but much less subtly or successfully as the bodies simply start to pile up at the end.

The meat of Lee's story this time out is pretty much the rebuilding of the city from the ground up, or in effect as one resident puts it, "nation building." As he examines the services we all take for granted - from policing to health care - there are at least as many failures as successes, from the still-closed Charity Hospital to the Dr. King Charter School of Excellence, which was reopened and reborn through the sheer will of the people who depend on it.

What makes this all go down a lot smoother is that it's peppered throughout with interviews with a wide variety of New Orleans residents whose lives are very engaging, along with both heroes and goats who have had an impact on the city. In the latter categories are retired Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré, who was sent to take charge in the wake of Katrina and has evolved into a local hero, and on the opposite end, former FEMA chief Mike Brown, who to his credit submits to an interview and even has the nerve to refer to himself now as an "emergency management consultant" with a straight face.

And it's humor like that in these dire circumstances that makes Lee's movie so watchable, even if he of course could have used an editor brave enough to question its length. The funniest point in Lee's second New Orleans documentary comes early as a man who's been dispersed to Houston explains, with his wife sitting beside him, how he was looking for "a churchgoing woman with a house," and since he admittedly has a foot fetish, how their coming together was a matter of "fate, and probably feet."

In the closing credits, the many personalities reintroduce themselves holding picture frames, which just reinforces what makes what is ultimately a four-hour civics lesson as entertaining and often riveting as it is important: The people. And they are what make Spike Lee's "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise" worth checking out on DVD.

Has "The Hobbit" found its new director? Perhaps so

I'm not afraid to admit when something is just too maddening to wrap my often way-too-occupied mind around, and the sad saga of Guillermo Del Toro and "The Hobbit" is a perfect example of that.

How a director that talented could give what seems like 10 years of his life to something and then just have to abandon it all still confounds me, but even if the MGM mess will continue to be beyond my pay grade (nothing), it seems "The Hobbit" is closing in on a replacement for Del Toro, and it's a natural choice.

David Yates has directed the last four (if you count the two-part "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" as two movies, which I suppose you have to) Harry Potter movies, and before that made the sublimely entertaining little flick "Girl in the Cafe" (rent that one immediately if you haven't seen it.) And now Production Weekly is reporting that an offer has been made to Yates to direct "The Hobbit" next.

"Deathly Hallows," the first installment of which is set to drop in November, finished shooting just this week, so the timing would certainly be ideal. And apparently in the actually only two years he spent on this, Del Toro wasn't just sitting idle; there are apparently sets and designs that have Del Toro's vision of Middle Earth pretty much ready to go whenever Yates, or whoever ends up taking this on, is ready to go.

Now an offer is only exactly that, and who knows if he'll actually accept it, but that would certainly be good news, because "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was solid, and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," both directed by Yates, was the best in the movie franchise so far.

And "The Hobbit" has always been my favorite of Tolkein's tales, mostly because it is so naturally a story for children, and one that I adored when I was one. Heck, I even liked that Jules Bass/Arthur Rankin Jr. animated musical, as admittedly silly as it was, and learned to play the piano to its songs.

But what will happen to Guillermo Del Toro? He seems to have at least 10 options on his plate, but the picture is about to get a lot clearer, especially if you're going to Comic Con next week, where he will announce what he'll direct next. I have no idea what that might be, but will certainly be tuning in to find out. If I had my druthers, it would be an original tale set in Spain to complete the "Devil's Backbone"-"Pan's Labyrinth"-whatever might come next trilogy, because those are still easily his best movies.

OK, enough of that. All I have after that is a trio of videos and, be warned, yes there is some "Saved By the Bell" at the end. Yes, really, but first up is the first trailer for Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere," which could either be something really intriguing in the vein of "Lost in Translation" or just a sappy mess. I really had little time at all for "Marie Antoinette," which was just a ton of style signifying much less than nothing, but "Lost in Translation" and the even-better "Virgin Suicides" are winners in my book, so I'll certainly be there to see this as soon after it opens on Dec. 22 as I can. As you'll see from the trailer, "Somewhere" stars Stephen Dorff as a star leading a fairly empty existence until he's reunited with his young daughter, played by Elle Fanning. Like I said, plenty of room for schmaltz here, but I'm still holding out hope for something more. Enjoy.



Next up, and keeping it a family affair, here's the trailer for the second season of HBO's "Bored to Death," which stars Coppola's cousin (I think) Jason Schwartzman as a would-be private eye in NYC. If you missed the first season last fall, you missed out on some serious funny, especially in Ted Danson, who plays an out-of-control magazine editor. The show, which also stars Zach Galifianiakis and was created by Jonathan Ames, is set to return in September, so definitely give it a chance. Enjoy.



OK, how better can you wrap things up than with some "Saved By the Bell"? I'm not ashamed to admit that I love the extremely silly NBC Saturday morning show (which may still be on the air with some kind of "Saved By the Bell: Next Generation" or something, for all I know.) There's really nothing funny about the BP oil spill, but whoever put together this mashup of the show and "There Will Be Blood" clearly knows this simple fact: You really can learn just anything you need to know about life from "Saved By the Bell." Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. I'm off now to watch some World Cup. Peace - and futbol - out.