Kansas City Star: She's 'colorful...outspoken'

Spike Lee opens the floodgates: Katrina victims spill out their shock, anger, grief and defiance in HBO documentary.

Aaron Barnhart, Kansas City Star, August 20, 2006:

As the storm bears down on New Orleans, those who stayed behind realize they have gambled and lost. Recalling that night, Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, one of the more colorful of the roughly 100 subjects chosen by Lee for the film, recalls thinking, “What if this is actually God’s will for us to die?”

LeBlanc is first subjected to the terror of watching the floodwaters destroy everything around her, then the seemingly endless series of insults: the 911 calls unanswered, the journey on foot to an evacuation point, the plane ride to nowhere, the FEMA trailer and the interminable pleading for assistance that continues to this day.

But even with her family scattered across the country, LeBlanc is adamant: “Whether you try to drown me or I die naturally, I’m going to stay here till the end.”

Phyllis Montana LeBlanc is one of the more outspoken subjects featured in the new Spike Lee documentary “When the Levees Broke.”