Theo Robertson
The writer/director of CSA Kevin Wilmott is black . I thought I'd point this out to guard my back . I also thought I'd mention that I seeked out this film because it received a rave review on Richard Schieb's Sci-Fi movie review page which can be accessed on the external reviews of this page . I feel the deep need to do this simply because CSA is a film of such biting , brutal bleak and brilliant satire featuring an America that still enforces slavery that it'd be very easy to be picked up wrongly by saying I laughed outloud at a great many scenes . Often it was nervous laughter and this was no doubts Wilmott's intention . I did feel very foolish at the end credit scenes . Again this was no doubt Wilmott's intention The premise involves the South winning the American Civil war and Abraham Lincoln being jailed as a war criminal . With great credit Lincoln is portrayed as an opportunist who wanted to get his hands on the South's cotton fields and one suspects Spilebergs upcoming bio-pic starring Daniel Day Lewis might just miss out this very important detail . As it stands history takes a diverted path where the USA become The Confederate States of America ( CSA ) and all the fall out this involves . The biggest divergence being that slavery is not abolished The story is told as a mockumentary by the " British Broadcasting Service " which hints as how unsubtle CSA is . Credit to the makers because at the outset we're shown a public information film called Why We Fought which does give a rather Eurocentric view of America then we start the documentary proper and everyone will be jumping on the outrage bus at one point . Try suggesting a scenario where " Union forces flee in the face of British and French fire " and you'll get the impression red necks aren't going to enjoy this as much as they were hoping . Of course African Americans will take the brunt of the outrage via stereotypical portrayals but if you've seen BIRTH OF A NATION then you'll realise this is an attack on moral climates of early 20th Century America . And it's the Hollywood sections that are the most scathing and unsubtle which is not a criticism . Quite the reverse because these are the most identifiable parts of the mockumentary to an international audience - Hollywood where men are men , where myths are made and where Europeans with a brain shake their head . The mockumentary is cut with advert breaks and trailers for spoof TV shows such as " Runaway " a send up of COPS complete with banjo music . This type of brutal and scathing satire outdoes the ones seen in the ROBOCOP movies As much as I can praise CSA in its witty satire where it fails very badly is in its alternative history aspect . For example if a scenario is created it can be clumsily forgotten about as in America creating a South American empire but later on we're told the rest of the world has brought in sanctions against the CSA because of its attitude to slavery which means the government has to bring in rationing ? In reality America is more than self sufficient in food and raw materials and widening this to South America means more food supplies so why introduce rationing ? There's also illogical ridiculous aspects such as women never having a vote in this alternative America and at the same time an America crippled by sanctions and citizens on rations this alternative America can still fight wars in Vietnam and lead Operation Desert Storm and land men on the moon In summary CSA is a very memorable mockumentary . It's unsurprising that there's a lot of mixed reviews on this page . Some people will have seeked it out on the grounds that it's an alternative history documentary and they'll be slightly disappointed in it . I certainly enjoyed the satirical aspects of it only to feel foolish when at the end when the " satire " was slightly closer to home than I thought it was . I will point out that I do realise that the photos of dead native Americans and lynched blacks are in fact real photographs and that William Wilburforce deserves to be remembered more than Abraham Lincoln
dartleyk
the film asks us to accept a fictional historical setting- in every respect, then applies modern morays to its fiction, but it doesn't work to be calling circumstances racist that were commonplace, accepted and legal; social morays do not easily or logically transcend centuries; that's one of the best things about them: they change; extreme example: how stupid the Egyptian builders were because they didn't use steel; steel is now; stone was thenand the next step in this line of thinking is PC cleansing, cutting the n-word from a really good brit war movie (the dam busters) because it's the name of the black dog- when the context is the real flight leader guy Gibson and his real n-name dog
gonewishing
CSA is a "historical documentary" interspersed with TV commercials. Pretty pathetic movie, actually. I didn't finish watching it because the people who made it were too lazy to study history and interpolate future events from the WORLD of 1863. There are humorous episodes, but the history isn't there. For instance, a win for the south wouldn't have prevented war in Europe; without US intervention the Kaiser would've been in charge of Germany in 1932, etc. C'mon- a BERLIN WALL stretching from sea to shining sea? They didn't come up with ANYTHING original. If they had simply made a comedy or drama that portrayed a 21st century CSA, that might have been really interesting.
thesar-2
Thank God, the North won.The enormously original and somewhat frightening CSA: The Confederate States of America is worth a shot to see "what would've happened" had the South triumphed over the North in the Civil War. And anyone who thinks the (real) U.S.A. of today is a bad place, watch this…as it's pretty and, unfortunately, plausible (had the South won, that is.)Creator Kevin Willmott, took the idea of making a Mockumentary of the North's defeat one step further, making this all the more original: he didn't just film a faux pas documentary, he made it from this alternate universe's British TV's point of view and threw in – spoiler – practically real commercials.And as authentic as this all seems – it's scary that facts can be skewed in such a realistic, though fictional format…SEE: political campaign ads – unfortunately, the movie runs out of steam about half way through to the finale. Even at only 89 minutes, it certainly wore out its welcome by its climax. Even the often hilarious, albeit frightening, commercials started to get downright ugly with its racism messages.The movie opens with a fake "History Channel"/type station broadcasting a CSA (Confederate States of America) documentary that cleverly put a disclaimer that this presentation is the British's POV and is not endorsed by the station. It then begins where the Civil War was, in fiction, decided by the North surrendering and Lincoln becoming "black" and fleeing to Canada.From there, the Mockumentary shows the turbulent rise of the Confederate States of America whereas slavery is not only still accepted, but endorsed and used to "rebuild" the union for the economy as well as political gains. Throw in the "station's" commercials – make sure you stay through to the end to get the background on these horrendous statements – the movie actually feels…"real." Sadly enough.If nothing else, this movie makes you appreciate what we have here, because I would want nothing else but to migrate to the "celebrated land of Canada" – the real hero of this story. It's absolutely disgusting what's portrayed and unhappily, a lot of this is very true of our past, and probably our present.One major problem I had with the film, is that, as wildly original as it is, I have a small, but sure doubt this could happen – good always seems to find its way to the surface, I feel, and I truly believe enough actual human beings would rally against this abomination of mankind, whether black, Native American or homosexual. Still, there are nations in existence today, in real life, that are just despicable – regrettably, women are still stoned for the most minute of offenses, so, I do flip flop on this movie's practicality.Though the movie's very well shot, one-of-a-kind and looks genuine, it doesn't demand repeat viewings, and since its 100% false, it can only be taken as a "what if" or "thank God we dodged that bullet" kind of entertainment. It should make you think and regret our past while making even the toughest atheist pray for mankind's future.Warning though: this movie is enormously racist – on purpose, of course. But, that doesn't excuse that it's very hard to watch at times. Yep, I know racism still exists – FOR SHAME: incredibly, I hear it almost daily and certainly NOT by choice – but this movie concentrates a great deal of it in less than an hour and a half. Just be warned; this is a tough pill to swallow.
