Except for the four of us the theater was nearly empty. It was late on a Thursday night, but that’s no excuse.  The theater should have been packed last night, and tonight and every night until Trouble the Water leaves the theater.

In case you haven’t heard, directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (of Farenheit 9/11 fame) traveled to New Orleans while the damage from hurricane Katrina was still being assessed. When they arrived they found devastation, hunger and misery, but more importantly they found Kimberly and Scott Roberts.

Kimberly and Scott fled the 9th Ward, but only after the flood waters had receded. Only after spending days trapped in their attic and then a school house and being turned away from a Navy base that could have sheltered them. Their story is not unique but the couple is. The strength of their character forms the core of what is, to my mind, the best film to date about hurricane Katrina (apologies here to Spike Lee).

To the great fortune of Lessin and Deal (and the viewing public) the couple are also gifted with remarkable foresight: In anticipation of the storm they began video taping their preparations and those of their neighbors. Then they recorded the storm itself. That video is the core of the film. If you think you’ve seen footage of Katrina, you haven’t. The video Kimberly shot during Katrina is without parallel. She filmed her neighborhood as it was engulfed. She taped as water came through her door and capturing the first floor of her house. She recorded while her neighbor risked his life in chest high water, ferrying people to safety using a punching bag. She shot footage of the storm that reminds you that humankind’s purpose is to create order out of the chaos of nature, and that every once in a while nature likes to mock that enterprise.

As the movie’s tag line says "It’s not about a hurricane, it’s about America." That’s true, and that story is told through Kimberly and Scott. I don’t want to ruin the movie, but let’s just say that they’ve been stepped  on their entire lives—to the point that they were able to take Katrina in stride. Let me type that again: They take the storm in stride. The storm, and the years that follow when they relocate and relocate again.

We don’t know how their story ends (Hopefully: it won’t end for a long time). But three years after the storm Kimberly, who raps under the name Black Kold Madina (If for no other reason, go see the movie to watch her lay it down. Near the end she spits a biographical track that will drop your jaw) started her own label, Born Hustler Records. The couple just had their first child, delivered the day the film was shown at Sundance, and after years of marginal employment Scott is working construction and clearly proud of the fact.

Among the most important elements of the film is the couple’s disposition toward the storm and the government’s response. It’s a hard thing to define, an admix of resignation, faith and fortitude. I’ve decided not to try, instead, I’m gonna leave the kicker for Black Kold Madina: "We aint taking no orders cause they slippin/ trippin they forgot that survival is all they done taught us (from her track Troubled the Waters)."