CSA: The Confederate States of America
Written and Directed by Kevin Willmott
This film is a mockumentary that postulates an alternate history where the South won the civil war. It’s told as a British documentary that’s being shown on American TV. It’s mostly done as a history of America from the Civil War until present day, but they also cut in commercials that are supposed to be from a present day CSA that still has slavery. There are a lot of big ideas in the film. It tries to put together a plausible timeline of how America would evolve, and mix that in with the severe racism in our near past and that which is just under the surface. The documentary parts draw heavily on the Ken Burns style, and those tend to hit more than they miss, though when it does the parts with a current politician and political campaign, that is stiff. The commercial interruptions mostly miss. They tend to hit the same note of using racist symbols to hawk products, and aren’t that funny. At the end of the film, they show that some of the racist images that they used for products were real and used within the last 50 years. I thought that was obvious from the commercials, but if you didn’t know about Coon chicken
The film has the South winning the war by getting help from Europe and winning Gettysburg. Lincoln was ousted and exiled to Canada. Harriet Tubman was hanged. Jefferson Davis moved into the white house and took over the US. When I first read about the premise of the movie, that’s not what I expected. I thought it would be a separate CSA co-existing with the North. But that would be a radically different history. CSA brings America through much of the same events in the 20th century history, just tweaked. The Davis Plan for re-unification re-introduces slavery to the whole of the US, and the North goes along with it. None of that seems likely, but it’s interesting to think about it, and it’s trying to underscore the point that Willmott is making that even in a free US, the racism was so severe that people would have gone back to slave owning. The abolitionist intellectuals flee to Canada. In the westward expansion, the Chinese are made slaves. Jews are allowed to stay, but given a reservation on Long Island. Some of it is clever. Some of it is over the top. I liked how they drew parallels to US mucking about in central America, and the friendliness with the Nazis.
Some of the commercials are clever. Prozac being sold as a way to keep slaves docile and med school flunk outs going into black medicine. Some just hits obvious targets, like a COPS for runaway slaves. And then there are ads to set up the final bit about how all the racist images were really used, which fall flat.
The production values are all over the place. The documentary bits are very well thought out, from talking heads to primary accounts with voice over, the faked footage, it was all done with a good eye for detail. The commercials looked like something from Amazon Women from the Moon. It is a little jarring. Sure, it’s low budget, but even the cheap sets and acting in some of the fake movies in the documentary party at least are striving for the right tone, and the commercials seem like they were made by someone who doesn’t own a TV.
Ultimately, it’s an interesting film, but it’s a collection of missed opportunities. If Willmott had collaborated with someone with a sharp and strong comedic voice, this could have been something really spectacular. The obvious choice would be Dave Chapelle, who loved to skewer racism and who also liked to use the mockumentary form. Chapelle is hilarious, though, and could have elevated this premise beyond clever ideas and a couple of chuckles, and that would have served the points that it was trying to make much better than the film as it was made.
Written and Directed by Kevin Willmott
This film is a mockumentary that postulates an alternate history where the South won the civil war. It’s told as a British documentary that’s being shown on American TV. It’s mostly done as a history of America from the Civil War until present day, but they also cut in commercials that are supposed to be from a present day CSA that still has slavery. There are a lot of big ideas in the film. It tries to put together a plausible timeline of how America would evolve, and mix that in with the severe racism in our near past and that which is just under the surface. The documentary parts draw heavily on the Ken Burns style, and those tend to hit more than they miss, though when it does the parts with a current politician and political campaign, that is stiff. The commercial interruptions mostly miss. They tend to hit the same note of using racist symbols to hawk products, and aren’t that funny. At the end of the film, they show that some of the racist images that they used for products were real and used within the last 50 years. I thought that was obvious from the commercials, but if you didn’t know about Coon chicken
The film has the South winning the war by getting help from Europe and winning Gettysburg. Lincoln was ousted and exiled to Canada. Harriet Tubman was hanged. Jefferson Davis moved into the white house and took over the US. When I first read about the premise of the movie, that’s not what I expected. I thought it would be a separate CSA co-existing with the North. But that would be a radically different history. CSA brings America through much of the same events in the 20th century history, just tweaked. The Davis Plan for re-unification re-introduces slavery to the whole of the US, and the North goes along with it. None of that seems likely, but it’s interesting to think about it, and it’s trying to underscore the point that Willmott is making that even in a free US, the racism was so severe that people would have gone back to slave owning. The abolitionist intellectuals flee to Canada. In the westward expansion, the Chinese are made slaves. Jews are allowed to stay, but given a reservation on Long Island. Some of it is clever. Some of it is over the top. I liked how they drew parallels to US mucking about in central America, and the friendliness with the Nazis.
Some of the commercials are clever. Prozac being sold as a way to keep slaves docile and med school flunk outs going into black medicine. Some just hits obvious targets, like a COPS for runaway slaves. And then there are ads to set up the final bit about how all the racist images were really used, which fall flat.
The production values are all over the place. The documentary bits are very well thought out, from talking heads to primary accounts with voice over, the faked footage, it was all done with a good eye for detail. The commercials looked like something from Amazon Women from the Moon. It is a little jarring. Sure, it’s low budget, but even the cheap sets and acting in some of the fake movies in the documentary party at least are striving for the right tone, and the commercials seem like they were made by someone who doesn’t own a TV.
Ultimately, it’s an interesting film, but it’s a collection of missed opportunities. If Willmott had collaborated with someone with a sharp and strong comedic voice, this could have been something really spectacular. The obvious choice would be Dave Chapelle, who loved to skewer racism and who also liked to use the mockumentary form. Chapelle is hilarious, though, and could have elevated this premise beyond clever ideas and a couple of chuckles, and that would have served the points that it was trying to make much better than the film as it was made.
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