Lee was legitimately upset about what happened in New Orleans during Katrina and even toys with the idea that the U.S. government blew up the levees to rid New Orleans of poor blacks. .
Needless to say, Lee will not hesitate to tell anyone what he believes and is the center of many different controversies in Hollywood. His personality is best described as that of a ticking time bomb. His feelings for the people of the ninth ward coupled with his outspokenness on political affairs and race relations were the driving force behind When The Levees Broke. Lee's intended audience is really anyone who takes the time to watch his work. He really wanted to get the story out to the public and that is exactly what he did, he let the world see exactly what was happening in New Orleans without any sugar coating. Lee does not hesitate to put a floating, swollen dead body on screen just to let the viewers know the grotesque reality of what happened. .
Lee uses this documentary to voice his opinion against how the government handled Katrina. He felt that the government did not do what it should have done during this time and he shows his disappointment with the federal government through the movie. Lee conveys a huge array of arguments in this film from the government blowing up the levees to George Bush not caring about black people. Throughout all of these arguments his barebones, central argument is that the federal government did not fulfill its duty to the people of New Orleans during the Katrina catastrophe. Lee conveys this argument in a number of different ways. For instance, he conveys the argument by interviewing a multitude of people that lived through Katrina and has them explain their unrest and disappointment in the government on camera. He also shows photographs of posters and paintings that read things like "Where's Fema?" " and "F--- Bush"". These tactics make it quite easy to see that Lee is upset with the government.
