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.
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.