The show Treme show casts a light onto the lives of multiple residents of New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina flooded 80% of the city. The level different characters have been impacted by the storm varies, The Bernette family whose house is mainly intact while others have lost everything (such as the Mardi Gra Indian who has taken up residence in the bar he’s set up about rebuilding). Regardless, all are simply trying to rebuild their lives and community, some still looking for missing family members.
Based on the discussions we’ve had in class, Treme has seemed to do a very realistic manner of portraying the lives and bringing up the events important to New Orleans at the time. During an interview with a British reporter, there is a discussion of if the Levees were bombed or not which we learned from When the Levees Broke was a heavily debated topic. Mr. Bernette is adamant that the cause was poor management of the levees by the federal and state government. The Mardi Gras Indian’s daughter also brings up the moment when on the highway all the survivors had police pointing guns at them and at a funeral the deceased was mentioned to get shot in Houston. One line that definitely hit home was when the Mardi Gras Indian chief goes to get others to rebuild the bar, it is said “Some of those homes still have bodies in them” which is haunting to think even three months later, there were still bodies in destroyed houses.
Treme shows realistic portray of multiple points of view from different walks of life after the hurricanes, all simply just trying to resume their lives while trying to rebuild their beloved city.