Some cities inspire envy, some inspire pity. New Orleans must be one of the few to inspire both.

This cultural beacon has such a rich history but too often triumph seems to give way to tragedy as documentary 'Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans' sets out to demonstrate.

News reporter Lolis Eric Elie gives us the guided tour of his adopted New Orleans borough which claims to be the oldest black neighbourhood in the US.

New Orleans we learn, had a much looser slavery system and became arguably the most radical city in the South, with the first black newspaper.

A century before Rosa Parks challenged segregated public transport, New Orleans had integrated their system and it was also the only place to have desegregated schools in the 1860s. There was a black Governor and more black politicians and black businessmen than anywhere else around.

But that was all reversed a decade later by Federal Government and courts. Not only were the black politicians purged but 99 percent of blacks were booted off the electoral roll.

And yet even then the seemingly irrepressible spirit of New Orleans shone through.

The law might have insisted on division but blacks and whites lived side by side. We see this in photos from the time but more tellingly from someone who knows – carpenter Irving Trevigne who's ancestors set up the first black newspaper.

The city gets past Segregation II but then takes another battering from crass urban planners who scatter communities to the wind while drugs blight what's left. But through the cracks the city grows again, its beautiful architecture in stark contrast to so many boring American 'burbs.

And who wouldn't want to live in a town where five-year-olds walk around blowing trumpets and street festivals bring the whole neighbourhood together in a spontaneous musical outburst? We catch up on all this just a year before deadly Katrina killed thousands.

This event serves as the postscript and climax to a highly educational film which doesn't flinch from a depressing conclusion. The characters we have met in Elie's neighbourhood are dispersed around the States, seemingly with no way back.

It's desperately depressing. After this powerful film you are left hoping this wonderful city will one day get the lasting peace it deserves.