In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, numerous filmmakers flocked to New Orleans in search of a story, or rather, the story of humanity overcoming insurmountable tradegy. However, many of these works have made greater statement about political injustice, bureaucratic ineptitude and the continuing pressures of racism than they have about the people displaced when the levees broke. Filmmakers Ashley Sabin and David Redmon kept their eye strictly focused on the personal throughout their feature documentary Kamp Katrina, and this choice primarily explains the relevance and resonance it imparts to its audiences.

Following the story of Ms. Pearl, a 9th Ward resident who opens her backyard to fourteen strangers, most of them eccentric and flawed, the film chronicles emotional journeys made more difficult daily by the lack of disaster relief, the omnipresent smell of death and the escalating bitterness of abandonment. As the political situation lies stagnant over a period of months, hope and optimism fades throughout the camp so much so that residents Doug and Kelley, the latter pregnant already for one month just as the storm hits, regress into their respective habits of alcoholism and cocaine addiction.

In watching the personal decline of these characters, it’s hard not to dually question a filmmaker’s cinematic and ethcial responsibility. On the one hand, Kamp Katrina succeeds because of its objectivity and its blatant embrace of the interviewees on their own terms. On the other hand, the film disturbs the quiet acceptance of the audience who can’t help but feel that someone ought to have intervened in order to shelter the child from a premature birth and a cocaine addiction.

Despite this ethical dilemma, however, Sabin and Redmon share a vision with grace and with an attention to exposing stories that would not otherwise be heard. The film speaks for the people on the fringes of society, the people who are often forgotten and in telling their stories, the film adds to the knowledge of the human condition, serving as a critical record of our here and now.

For more information on the film, visit www.www.carnivalesquefilms.com.