FAQ

No. At least, not entirely. The film depicts at least two events, seemingly pulled from the headlines, that have since been shown to be false. Early in the film armed men (presumably gang members) are shown to be firing at rescue helicopters. This incident was initially reported in a CNN article along with a variety of other stories suggesting armed gangs roving the streets of New Orleans. Later in depth reports, such as the Pulitzer Prize winning Deadly Choices at Memorial found no evidence of any shots fired. Sources of the initial report appeared to have had a racial ax to grind; claiming that the supposed were crazy black people who think theyve been oppressed by white people all these years.

Later in the film, two armed dark skinned individuals (one black and one Latino) are shown breaking into the hospital in search of drugs. This also stems from a prevalent rumor that was reported during the storm, suggesting that hospitals were under siege by junkies. Once again there is no evidence to back up this claim. In fact, a detailed article by A.C. Thompson titled Katrinas Hidden Race War, suggested that most acts of violence were in fact perpetrated by white residents who formed armed militias/neighborhood-watches. Thompson claims that at least 11 apparently un-armed black men were shot during the storm, all by white residents. In early 2011 a New Orleans jury found 5 police officers guilty of firing on an unarmed African American family as they were crossing the Danzigers Bridge in search of food. One man was killed; another four wounded.

Though the events that appear to have inspired these scenes were debunked by 2009, the film still included the events when it was released in late 2013. Of course its entirely possible that the films writer was simply unaware of later findings calling these events into dispute.