Plot Synopsis

Spike Lee returns to the Gulf Coast, this time he arrives at the height of jubilation -- just after the Saints' historic 2010 Super Bowl victory -- and leaves after yet another disaster, the BP oil spill. During this period, Lee documents the successes and failures in the ongoing efforts to restore housing, healthcare, education, economic growth and law and order to a battered but unbowed community. New Orleanians were encouraged by a series of legal victories that promised accountability -- and long-awaited financial restitution -- for some of the devastating damage done to their homes by massive flooding during and after the storm, but there's still a deep undercurrent of mistrust. Many residents say that recovery efforts mask an effort to transform the city famous for letting the good times roll into an economic engine that will benefit only an elite few. One of the main problems facing the city's poor is a lack of affordable housing -- four large public housing developments have been shuttered, rents have soared, and only 38 percent of the private homes destroyed in the hurricane have been rebuilt. These problems even extend to Houston, where an estimated 150,000 New Orleans evacuees remain. Plus, other Gulf areas, such as Gulfport and Biloxi, MS, serve as a contrast since they have rebuilt themselves more quickly. More than 300 people share their stories, including former La. Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, historian Douglas Brinkley, activist actors Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, and Houston mayor Anisse Parker.