C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America

This movie danced along the edge of impropriety, but brilliantly. The premise is good and the execution is genius. Depicting this as a standard 'Ken Burns style' documentary is the perfect way to convey the sweep of history in a short time. The interviews, voice overs, and lingering camera shots of a still photograph were all spot-on.

My favorite part was the multiple level satire of films from the early 20th century showing events from the 19th: a silent movie about Lincoln's capture, a 50s school educational film about the superiority of whites, and a Hollywood war epic about the CSA's wars in South America. Depicting the fictional events through a lens of contemporary attitudes of what would have been the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s... it made my head swim.

The commercials that another reviewer mentioned were humorous breaks in the action, but they didn't go much further than any normal commercial parody. The note at the end from the movie creators about the sources for some of these (I won't give it away) made me twinge with guilt for laughing, which I think is the response they wanted.

Overall, if you are a student of history, a lover of satire, a thinking person, or (god forbid) all 3 - you should see this move.

This reminded me of Pink Flamingos. Some people thought it was ridiculous, obnoxious and tawdry. Others thought it was brilliant and wickedly hilarious. The people you considered your friends tended to think like you did--they either hated it or loved it. CSA is that same kind of movie. It's brilliantly insightful to some and tediously vindictive to others. I know that my friends will love it. There is an enormous amount of historical and social introspection that went into it, and its underlying message is that tendencies in societies don't evaporate simply because one group of advocates wins a war or an election. The dialectic of how we see each other as souls on this planet is the search for God itself, and a journey we spend a lifetime on. If my comments make sense to you, you will love the film. If it all seems like old hippie mumbo jumbo, you will probably hate it. In any case, it will help you sort out your friends.

People, seriously... These are reviews of a Fictional movie. REVIEWS! As in, did you like it or not based on Staging, Costumes, writing, Acting, etc. No one cares if you're from a former confederate state, and you happened to get all butt-hurt about it being made.

CSA was pretty good. Low budget, but entertaining. Half-a$$ed the costumes, but who cares! It's a mockumentary. And a silly one at that. If you like dry, humorous, FAKE, history movies then this is right up your alley.

One thing I will say that I had a personal problem with was the amount of commercials that ran during this movie. If I didn't already have insurance on my slave, he wouldn't be working in the field with all that heavy machinery. When will congress pass mandatory slave insurance into law?

See. Seems ridiculous when you treat it seriously, or as something to get upset about...

The movie is pretty interesting, it shows what it could be like if the south won the civil war and slavery still persisted today. The modern-day commercials like the 'Slave Selling Network' and other products that put black people in their minstrel-like places was pretty poignant. The end of the movie showed that some of those commercials that were portrayed were actually REAL products, some used into the 50s.

However, from a 'what if' standpoint, the history is pretty unrealistic. The movie shows the South taking over all of the North, something that would have been impossible, and something the South never intended on doing. They just wanted to secede from the US and form their own country - they did not have the manpower or resources to occupy and conquer all of the North. If you want to read a more probable history of what may have happened if the South had won the war, check out Harry Turtledove's series of books. North and South remain enemies, fight each other in the 1880s, in WWI, WWII, etc. This makes European history pretty different as well, since you didn't have a united America aiding the Allies in the World Wars. The South under exceeding worldwide pressure from its allies ends up ending slavery, but laws are in place to be sure to keep the black man down in such a way that they are not much better off. More realistic I think.

Still, a pretty good movie.

I was able to catch CSA at the TRUE/FALSE Film Festival in Columbia, MO (great fest, kudos to all involved). The Producer and Director of CSA were there to briefly discuss the film. Sadly, it was held at the Blue Note, which is a fantastic venue for watching bands, but not for screening films. Anyway, on to the review.

Told like a Ken Burns Civil War documentary, CSA really gives a great look at what "might have been." From Jefferson Davis as the President of the United States and his exile of Abraham Lincoln to Canada, to The President meeting with Chancellor Hitler to discuss enslaving the Jewish race as opposed to destroying it to JFK's assasination because of his wanting to end slavery, the film touched on many of the United States' milestone moments told through this alternate universe. The span of American history is so vast that, unfortunately the film raises more questions than could possibly be answered.

The director spoke after the film and said he made this film to bring the subject of race to the forfront and to open discussion about it. As far as a spark for discussion, it works well. I just wish it could have delved deeper into the social, economical and political issues it raises (would there be protests toward slavery as now there are protests against the Bush administration's unilateral attack on Iraq? Interesting topic...).

The one thing that completely blew me away was that all the products advertised in the "commercial breaks" were real. I knew of one or two, but not all of them. That was a very interesting twist that stood out in a film filled with interesting and satirical twists.