Spike Lee says New Orleans future uncertain

NEW ORLEANS, Aug 16 (Reuters) The future of New Orleans and its ability to recover from Hurricane Katrina is uncertain, film director Spike Lee said today ahead of the premiere of a four-hour documentary on the storm.

''It could go either way, in my opinion, down here,'' he said, reflecting on the fact that many parts of the city are far from cleaned up or rebuilt.

Lee, one of the film industry's most prominent African-American directors, took nearly a year to make the film about Katrina, and he argued today that the government response was so inadequate as to be a crime.

''What happened here was a criminal act. The devastation was not brought upon solely by Mother Nature,'' he told a news conference. ''I would like to see somebody go to jail,'' he added, declining to name individuals.

Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, hit New Orleans nearly a year ago on August. 29, flooding 80 percent of the city and killing 1,339 in the region, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The speed of government response aiding and providing for the newly homeless was sharply criticized as nearly every New Orleans resident was forced to evacuate.

The city still has neighborhoods in shambles, and Lee said many of the people he met while filming wanted leadership.

''That's what everybody keeps telling me -- we are waiting for the plan, we are waiting for the plan, we are waiting for the plan.

And so they wait,'' he said.

''When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts'' was made for cable channel HBO, a unit of Time Warner Inc.. The documentary will be shown to a live New Orleans audience on Wednesday evening and make its television debut in two two-hour parts on August. 21 and 22.

REUTERS PDS PM0041