C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004)

Director:

Kevin Willmott

Writer:

Kevin Willmott (writer)

Release Date:

24 June 2005 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

What if the South had won the War?

Plot:

Through the eyes of a british "documentary", this film takes a satirically humorous, and sometimes frightening, look at the history of an America where the South won the Civil War.

Plot Keywords:

Fake Documentary | Racism | Abolitionist | Mockumentary | Journalist

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Greg Kirsch	...	Confederate Family Dad
Renee Patrick	...	Confederate Family Mom
Molly Graham	...	Confederate Family Child
William Willmott	...	Confederate Family Slave / Voice of Frederick Douglas / Extra (as Will Willmott)
Rupert Pate	...	Sherman Hoyle
Evamarii Johnson	...	Patricia Johnson
Greg Hurd	...	Mr. Johnson
Ryan L. Carroll	...	Bobby
Don Carlton	...	Colonel Bloodhound
Kevin McKinney	...	Blackface Abraham Lincoln
Will Averill	...	Blackface Harriet Tubman
Arlo Kasper	...	Old Abraham Lincoln
Joe Bugni	...	Car Guy No. 1
Troy Moore	...	Car Guy No. 2
Jennifer Coville	...	Daisie

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:Unrated | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Lawrence, Kansas, USA

Company:

Hodcarrier Films

Trivia:

A majority of the racist products featured in the film's fake commercials are real racist products from American history.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The narrator states that when Jefferson Davis signed the order to annex the defeated north, that the song "Dixie" "...replaced the national anthem." At the time this would have occurred, there was no national anthem. "Hail Columbia" was the unofficial anthem through the 19th century, but other songs were also used. In 1929, Robert Ripley published a cartoon that proclaimed "Believe It or Not, America has no national anthem." In 1931, President Herbert Hoover, following a recommendation by John Philip Sousa, signed the bill authorizing "The Star Spangled Banner" as the anthem. This goof is, therefore, both a factual mistake and an anachronism.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[commercial for Confederate Family Insurance]
Confederate Family Insurance Speaker: A man fills many roles in his lifetime: provider, protector, master of the house. As a father you have a vital role in your family's life. They depend on you to be there. We help to make sure you can fulfill that promise, because
[pause]
Confederate Family Insurance Speaker: no matter what they call you
[pause]
Confederate Family Insurance Speaker: at the end of the day
[pause]
Confederate Family Insurance Speaker: you know you're just
[pause]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "Cops" (1989)

Brilliant Satire

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.