Louisiana musicians Amanda Shaw, left, Chubby Carrier, Allen Toussaint and Marva Wright perform in the IMAX movie "Hurricane on the Bayou."

By Nate Guidry
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Hurricane on Bayou" isn't a political film.

Other documentaries have pointed an accusatory camera lens at the blunders of local, state and national officials for their ineffectiveness before, during and after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Instead, "Hurricane on the Bayou" examines the role of Louisiana's wetlands and its barrier islands and how they're critical in the protection of low-lying cultural meccas like New Orleans and small fishing communities along the Gulf of Mexico. Few things are as frightening as seeing the Buras water tower collapse under the weight of rising floodwaters.

Listen In: Selection from Tab Benoit's album "Wetlands" When a Cajun Man Gets The Blues

The film is filled with traditional New Orleans and Cajun and Zydeco music. There are timeless still photographs of Louis Armstrong, performances at the St. Louis Cathedral, as well as a concert by Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief Monk Boudreaux performing New Orleans staple "Iko Iko," a song originally written as "Jock-A-Mo" in 1954 by James "Sugarboy" Crawford.

Central to the film are Louisiana musicians Amanda Shaw, a young fiddler from New Orleans; accordionist Chubby Carrier; gospel singer Marva Wright; pianist Allen Toussaint; and Cajun blues guitarist Tab Benoit, whose song "Wetlands" provides an inspirational soundtrack.

In addition to having established the organization Voice of the Wetlands, devoted to drawing attention to the problems of coastal erosion, Benoit is an accomplished pilot. He takes viewers on a plane ride above the Louisiana marsh country, where we can see miles of coastal erosion and a sandbar that was once a sugar plantation.

Benoit also zips us through the marsh aboard a water-skimming airboat. While he navigates the narrow canals, we get to examine some of the bayou's ecosystem.

At one point, Benoit talks about how the natural sediment and silt has been depleted by "well-intentioned" U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when they channeled the Mississippi River.

In the 1920s, the corps built levees and floodways to contain floodwaters and provide an outlet for excessive floodwaters. Over the years, a decrease in silt deposited by the Mississippi River has contributed to the disappearance of wetlands.

The film comes to a soul-stirring climax when Wright is joined by a 20-person choir to sing "In God's Hand" at the historic St. Louis Cathedral.

The Audubon Nature Institute, a production partner with director Greg MacGillivray, is releasing a companion soundtrack CD. Proceeds will go to that organization's wetlands education programs.