Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Hurricane on the Bayou Blu-ray Movie Review

Can anyone forget the devastation of Hurricane Katrina?

Reviewed by Sir Terrence March 9, 2009

Every since I have been reviewing films, I have always been impressed with how film company MacGillivray and Freeman has used the IMAX format to teach us about our planet. Rather than using the format to only emphasize great visuals and sound, they have chosen to travel the world and showcase natures many wonders, and how human interaction affects it. Hurricane on the Bayou is a film that positions itself between Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke. It does not have the raw emotions of When the Levees Broke nor does it have the stoic by the numbers scientific feel of An Inconvenient Truth. Instead, it nestles itself somewhere between these two divergent films, showing both science and emotion without solely relying on either to drive the story line. This story centers on the historic city of New Orleans, a city of rich cultural diversity, great food and a uniquely blended musical tradition. It is a city that almost lost its entire unique flavor as it was nearly drowned and blown away by natures rage and fury; Hurricane Katrina.

The film begins somberly with Dr. Heide Cullen of The Weather Channel describing why they got involved in the project. The films narrator, Meryl Streep, takes over with a brief description of the history of the city of New Orleans, and the trouble hanging over the city. The topic focuses on the wetlands surrounding the New Orleans area; how it is natures "speed bump" designed to protect the city from the surge of water from Hurricanes that occasionally hit the area. These wetlands are being lost at a rate of a football field a day to the encroaching waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The blame for the occurrence lies directly with the 1930's levee projects, which were designed to prevent flooding of valuable farm land and houses in the area. It was further acerbated by the Army Corps of Engineers levee projects in the 1960's. These projects prevented natural silt from the Mississippi River from providing nutrient soil to the wetlands area. In doing so, it allowed massive areas of wetlands to die, and eventually get swallowed up by the pounding waves of the Gulf.

We meet Amanda Shaw, a 14 year old violin prodigy working on a class project on the struggles of the wetlands. She is joined by Cajun Guitarist Tab Benoit; both serve as de facto masters of ceremonies by telling their own tales of loss and survival amid the hurricane, and its aftermath. To tie Louisiana's culture to its environmental struggles, the film takes an opportunity to showcase some of New Orleans rich musical history. Amanda shares with us her fears of an approaching hurricane Katrina, the rush to get out of the city, and her families inability to locate her grandparents in the chaos of the evacuation. Tab was out on tour during Katrina, and it took him three weeks to gain access to his home in the swamp. He returned to find his house in shambles, much of the surrounding swamp destroyed along with the wildlife that inhabited the area. Katrina left many residents of New Orleans destitute, separated families, destroyed the economy, and left the spirit of the city on life support. All this could have been prevented if humans just improved on nature, instead of trying to change it entirely. There is hope for New Orleans amidst the hopelessness, and both Amanda and Tab teach us exactly what that is. Preserve nature, and nature will take care of us.

Hurricane on the Bayou Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hurricane on the Bayou storms on to the Blu-ray format in an excellent 1080p/MPEG- 2 encode, framed at a full 1:78:1 aspect ratio. This is the best looking IMAX film I have reviewed so far. Grain is well managed and relegated to the stock footage inserted in to the IMAX film. Images are ultra sharp--sharper than I have ever seen on the IMAX format. Underwater and aerial shots are equally impressive, rendering images with a high degree of detail. Black levels are outstanding, and contrast is right on the money. Colors are true, well saturated, and look as natural as I view them with mine own eyes. Green shrubbery, blue waters, blue sky, all came across impressively real to these eyes. The only issue I could find is a couple of shots that appeared tightly cropped, otherwise the overall picture quality was nothing short of amazing.

Hurricane on the Bayou Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio features heavy doses of New Orleans jazz/Cajun/zydeco music in the form of a very well mixed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 encode at a 16/48 kHz bit and sample rate. Dialog is fixed in the center channel, with no music or effects to hamper intelligibility. Separation across the frontal sound stage is very good, and music and effects wrap effectively into the surrounds. Hurricane scenes (CGI and all) sound particularly dynamic, with the sound of thunder, lighting, and pouring rain coming from all directions, including overhead. The LFE can be frighteningly powerful, especially during the storm scenes. The overall sound field is huge and wide open, with a very coherent front to back separation. Kudos should be given to MacGillivray and Freeman for a fine audio and video presentation.

Hurricane on the Bayou Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras on this disc are on par with other IMAX releases on Blu-ray disc. They are usually as comprehensive as the movie itself; here is the line up:

The Making Of goes into the background of the production. Almost as long as the film itself, it goes into great detail on how the film originally had one purpose which changed after Katrina hit the city.

Film Trivia Quiz is a series of trivia based on what is covered in the film.

About the Musicians goes into the background of the various musicians that participated in the project.

About the Audubon Nature Institute

Alligator Stuff

Play MacGillivray Freeman movies

About Greg MacGillivray

Trailers

This disc is BD-Live enabled.

Hurricane on the Bayou Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I volunteered for a month in New Orleans days after Katrina hit and I can attest to the devastation of the city, as well as the human suffering that accompanied it. Television shots just did not do any justice in showing the devastation that was rained on that city in such a short period of time. I am glad that MacGillivray and Freeman used the IMAX format not only to highlight the devastation, but to teach us why it happened. Hurricane on the Bayou is highly recommended for it excellent audio and video quality, but for the content as well.