By Eric Allen

Kimberly Rivers Roberts, also known as Black Kold Madina, writes rhymes hoping to become a rap artist. Her lyrics don’t flaunt cash or luxury, but rather reveal the good times and hardships of life in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, before and after Hurricane Katrina, the storm that devastated New Orleans and killed hundreds of people in 2005.

Roberts’ songs can be heard in the documentary “Trouble the Water,” directed and produced by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, the producers of “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Bowling for Columbine.” The film depicts what it was like to live through the devastating hurricane.

In “Trouble the Water,” Roberts, with her husband, Scott, took a video camera through their neighborhood to film their friends and family preparing for the storm. Roberts, like thousands of others in New Orleans, did not evacuate the area prior to Katrina’s landing. Her video began as a record of her preparations before the storm, but resulted in a firsthand chronicle of survival.

Winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize, “Trouble the Water” takes its name from the verse, “God’s gonna trouble the water,” sung in the spiritual folk song “Wade in the Water.” It is a reference to the conditions Hurricane Katrina survivors had to endure. It juxtaposes news coverage against Roberts’ own footage to demonstrate the radically insufficient aid given to the hurricane survivors.

The evidence of an imbalance between the need for relief and the actual help received was clear throughout the whole film: a video clip of President George Bush boasting successful relief efforts next to clips of survivors searching for help weeks after the hurricane had passed; audio tapes of phone conversations with emergency operators telling victims they will not be receiving aid as they drown in their attics; Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers unconvincingly explaining why money isn’t being given to survivors.

Video clips of officials delivering deluded messages of hope were also offset by captions that revealed a more truthful account. One caption explained that no public transportation was organized for evacuation while a video of an official urging citizens to evacuate was played behind it. Roberts, in her own footage, explained that she didn’t leave New Orleans because she could not afford to.

Roberts’ footage is unprecedented and very real. Viewers have the opportunity to sit with her in her attic while her house floods and Larry, her brother, explains how he will rescue people by pulling them from the house and swimming with them into the flooded street. Viewers can see the state of her neighborhood, weeks after the hurricane has passed, yet still without any aid.

The documentary was similar to Roberts’ silver lining-style raps: realistic with an optimist’s twist. By the end of the film, the Roberts reformed their pre-hurricane street-hustler ways and made amends with old enemies. The film closes with a new rap from Black Kold Madina.

The most memorable – and most redeeming – element of the documentary is the first-person account of survival. The message of the film is clear, but a more astute use of media coverage and other survivors’ accounts would have added validity. The use of captions is effective, but the government-bashing intent was all too clear. A more neutral presentation of facts would have had the subtlety to deliver the message in a more thoughtful way.

Perhaps the biggest drawback of the film is it’s timing – it seeks to reveal the insufficient aid given to victims long after America has learned about the problem. Despite anything the film may be lacking, it offered the type of provocative message that the intellectual moviegoer can enjoy.

“Trouble the Water” is playing at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge.