Treme, Season 1

TREME SEASON 1 (Blu-ray)
Warner Home Video

Release date: May 30th, 2011
Certificate (UK): 15
Running time: 600 minutes

Creators: David Simon, Eric Overmyer

Cast: Wendell Pierce, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Steve Zahn, Khandi Alexander, Rob Brown, Kim Dickens, Michiel Huisman, Lucia Micarelli, Clarke Peters

Treme, Season 2 Review

Reading about New Orleans as a teenager in the early 1990’s, it struck me this was a place rich in history, culture, architecture and rhythm. It quickly became one of the places I longed to visit – it felt like something I needed to experience for myself.

After the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, like many, I thought everything I read about and fell in love with had come to an end – I assumed this once vibrant place would never be the same again.

When the news teams packed and left, New Orleans no longer made headlines and the rest of the world moved on with their lives. We forgot all about it, and like the images we saw only a few years earlier of the World Trade Center towers falling, what happened at the Louisiana Superdome and on the Danziger Bridge were things we wanted to put behind us. What else was there to do?

Treme is a television series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer for HBO Television. Taking its name from one of oldest neighbourhoods in the city, it confronts us with the reality of life in New Orleans three months after Katrina.

It also addresses many of the issues that continue to be ignored by mainstream media, such as the failings of the US Army Corps of Engineers; both in the preparation and response to the flooding causes by the levees breaking, and that no one has yet faced criminal charges.

With homes destroyed, businesses ruined and lives seemingly beyond repair, we meet the people who are doing their best to get up and start gain, despite being abandoned by their government.

There’s Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn), a musician and DJ who always seems to be getting into trouble but has good intentions, and loves New Orleans. Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce) plays trombone and is struggling to get by, taking what gigs he can get and travelling by taxi since he lost his car in the floods. Toni Bernette (Melissa Leo) is a lawyer who tries to help those ignored or abused by the system that was put there to do the opposite. LaDonna Batiste-Williams (Khandi Alexander) has been searching for her younger brother. He was last seen on Danziger Bridge but hasn’t been heard from since and she fears the worst.

Creighton Bernette (John Goodman) is a character that stays with you. He’s an English teacher but since Katrina he’s been trying to get the media to pay attention to what’s really going on in New Orleans – to look at the human cost. He’s angry at the myths they continue to support in their coverage and the questions they aren’t asking.

Other memorable characters include Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens). She runs a restaurant, her home was one of the casualties of the storm and she’s still waiting for her insurance payout. There’s also Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters), a chef who lost everything he owned but he’s now doing everything he can to bring his people back together and living in an abandoned bar.

The writing and performances in Treme make it a unique and unforgettable show, together with its underlining story of a city trying to move on after an unimaginable disaster.

Filled to the brim with unique, strong, and sometimes vulnerable, characters, each of them representing a part of the heart and soul of New Orleans, we get a taste of what life there is like. Treme shows America and the world it doesn’t have to look far to find trouble – it exists right there on its own front yard. It’s in the heavy handed way the police deals with its citizens and the discrimination entire poor black communities experience from those who should know better.

Combined with some really great jazz tunes that make up the soundtrack it’s a show that often had me tapping my feet and snapping my fingers while also realising how wrong I was to think New Orleans would never be the same again. A city isn’t defined by houses, shops, restaurants, banks and stadiums – it’s defined by its people and they’re still there and they won’t bow. Don’t know how.

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.

Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.

Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.

Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

Patrick Samuel ¦ Asperger Artist

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