Almost a year to the day after the national disgrace that was the ill-preparedness for Hurricane Katrina and its horrific aftermath, director Spike Lee produced 'When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,' which aired in four parts on HBO in August, 2006.

Arguably one of Lee's finest works, 'Levees' speaks with survivors and players in the Katrina debacle, bringing an inconsolable face to the fiasco that killed hundreds and left thousands stranded in the New Orleans and the Louisiana Superdome. The documentary also delves into how Katrina's devastation and chaos may have been man made, the rich legacy of New Orleans' culture, and unfortunately, how it could all happen again.

On Tuesday, Dec. 19, Lee releases 'Levees' on DVD. In addition to the four parts aired on HBO, there is an additional fifth part as well as a "making of" and photo montage. AOL Black Voices spoke to Lee about 'Levees,' a historical document every American home should have.

What surprised you most when you did 'Levees'? Was it the physical blight or the government's incompetence or something totally different?
The biggest surprise was that when it was finished, the amount of humor that went into the film. That was not something that I could have foreseen. Like Phyllis, Fred Johnson, there was a bunch of stuff in the film that was very, very funny.

What were you able to add to the DVD that didn't make it on HBO?
We've got a bunch of stuff. It's going to be a three-disc DVD. When it was broadcast, it was four acts. We have a fifth act on DVD, a photo montage and a "making of." We didn't shoot any more stuff. We had four hours -- which was a lot. HBO had never allotted four hours in their broadcast history to a documentary before.

You're certainly known as a man with a perspective if nothing else; yet this seemed like journalism -- that is a story with "objectivity." Did you have to get into another space to create this film document?
No. This is the third documentary I've done. The first was 'Four Little Girls' and 'Jim Brown: All American.' I don't get caught up in that -- you have to be objective and all that. We're trying to tell a story. And with this story, this historical moment in history, there were bad guys and good guys. And I wasn't gonna mess around with that. There were obvious villains in this. And Bush is bad guy number one.

What's the status of your TV show on New Orleans, 'NoLa'?
We're waiting on NBC. We haven't got the green light to shoot the pilot yet, so we have to go back and submit another script. Not another script, but another draft.

Why do you think it's so hard for black dramas to get onto television?
They'll look at demographics. Now if we want to go on television dancing or singing, acting a fool...

But you're an acclaimed director?
I don't have a track record on TV. And that's what they look at. I don't think so, but I think that's the way a lot of people view it [starting all over again.]

How's it looking for black filmmakers today? Is it better than when you first entered the game or worse?
Well, there are many opportunities. But the opportunities come in ghettos. And certain things that you're just not going to get. There are certain films that the studios are just not going to make. Keep jobs doing hip-hop films and low-brow comedies and slap-stick and that type of stuff. [With dramas], if you don't have Denzel in it... there's always exceptions -- and I'm not talking about independent cinema, I'm talking about coming through the Hollywood studio system.

Do you think you've helped to change anything as far as the New Orleans situation? I think it's enlightened the public to what really happened down there. To see it in its concentrated form made people find out what they didn't know before.

Any backlash?
Well, nothing's happened, yet.