THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

The filmmakers originally intended to make a documentary about the National Guard who were flown back from Iraq and called into service but, not surprisingly, wary officials blocked that path. Then they happened upon Kimberly Roberts, who had been filming since the first storm warnings were broadcast. After viewing her footage, it didn't take Deal and Lessin long to figure that they'd found their story. Roberts, a large woman who talks loudly and often speaks so rapidly the filmmakers add necessary subtitles under her words, had captured a treasure trove of raw footage. Instinct told Roberts to record what was about to happen so viewers see life in the Ninth Ward, the district hardest hit by the storm, and the aftermath. Having no money to leave and with no offer of assistance or emergency transportation forthcoming, Roberts and her husband Scott, a large man with a gentle smile, have no choice but to wait out the storm. Many of their neighbors, including an uncle who is shown sleeping on the sidewalk in a drunken stupor as the storm approaches, are shown to be in the same position.

Deal and Lessin incorporate Roberts' rough, compelling footage with news reels and their own, which takes a more studied approach. We see the water slowly, ominously rising—until the Robertses and several neighbors are trapped in their attic. Then, heartbreakingly, we hear a series of 911 calls with survivors begging to be rescued, and operators telling them point-blank that no one is coming. The film cuts back and forth between the hurricane footage and its aftermath, and we follow the Robertses, who hook up with several other survivors, as their story unfolds: They assess the damage, head to relatives, relocate to Memphis and, finally, return to their old neighborhood, determined to make a fresh start.

Throughout, Kimberly's no-nonsense, unsentimental approach; her vitality; tremendous humor; inbred compassion; and her survival instincts take center stage. She and her husband are great camera subjects. ( He's the wind beneath her wings. ) When she performs an original rap at the end of the film, it's like a clarion call to all other survivors to stand up and be counted. Roberts doesn't stand around pointing the finger at government officials; instead, this survivor of a mother who died from AIDS when she was 13 is busy moving forward, dealing with life as it comes and rapping about her experience ( while performing under the name Black Kold Madina ) . The moment when she returns to her home and salvages the photograph of her late mother—the one time when tears seem close to the surface—speaks volumes in a movie filled with them. Trouble the Water is simply a great film about a national disgrace and some remarkable 'regular folks' who refused to let it overwhelm them.

Film notes:

—As part of Unity Month, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations will co-sponsor the Chicago premiere of Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project Saturday, Sept. 20, at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 5710 W. Midway Park, at 4 p.m. Charles Bennett Brack's documentary is about a 15-year-old black lesbian who was murdered, the victim of a hate crime, in 2003. The mission of the Sakia Gunn Film Project, in the words of Rev. Juan Reed, vicar of St. Martin's, 'is to add fluidity and flexibility to how people think about Black LGBT people and to make Black LGBT youth more visible and less vulnerable.' Brack will attend the screening. 773-378-8111 or www.saintmartinschicago.org

—Chicago filmmaker Richard Paro's independent feature Mass Romantic, which debuted in Chicago last March to a sold-out audience and is now making the film festival rounds, will screen Saturday, Sept. 20, at 3 p.m. at the Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main, St. Charles. The film is a relationship drama that follows a group of activists and academics in search of love while working on political art. Queer politics and transphobia are just two of the topics touched on in the film. See www.mudgeonsoul.org .

—The alternative film-screening series White Light Cinema and The Nightingale present a 30th-anniversary screening of Daughter Rite, an experimental film that 'focuses on feminism, theory, progressive politics, queer issues and a general sense of question of experimental, documentary and narrative norms'—all within 53 minutes. The filmmaker, Michelle Citron, who is chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College, will attend. The showing will take place Sunday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m. at The Nightingale, 1084 N. Milwaukee. Call 773-381-3102 or visit www.whitelightcinema.com .

Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter Web site, where there is also ordering information on my book of collected film reviews, Knight at the Movies 2004-2006.