C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2005)

This is one of the first mockumentary movie I saw when I was a Teenager at a time when I was very interested in the American Civil War. The idea of a parallel reality was very new to me at the time so when I watched this film in early 2010 I very quickly became interested in the concept of an alternative reality in what would later become a genreknown as "Alternative history" and C.S.A: The Confederate States of America was the Spear of what captivated me into that genre. However, as I got older and started to look into the film in great detail I realize that the film has too many factual, historical and some global errors. The one that stands out the most is the Confederate takeover of the United States. At no point in the Civil war did the South wanted to conquer the United States and replace it with the Confederate States. The American Civil war was a war of Secession, the south wanted to become Independent from the union due to the north's abolishment of slavery in 1861 which was a source of income for many southern states. Even if the South did subjugate the North it wouldn't hold it for very long. The North hated the Confederacy believing them as traitors to the people who fought and died in the American Revolution, if the Confederates somehow annexed the union the northerners at some point or another would have rebelled against the CSA and reclaim the union. The Movie focuses mostly on slavery which probably wouldn't have lasted as long as this movie predicted and show us a divergent reality in where the CSA has taken over the USA as well as Central and south Americas. The film tells how the Confederates won the Civil War (which ended in 1864 in this timeline) and how they brought slavery back to the North. In this timeline Abraham Lincoln never published the Emancipation Proclamation and thus the Confederacy gain support from Britain and France. By the end of 1863 the Confederacy successfully advances into the Union strongholds winning battle after battle. After a few months a defeated and broken United States eventually surrendered and was force to join the CSA due to their costly defeat. By the end of the War the United State Ceased to Exist and the Confederate Battle flag (not the national flag of the Confederacy) becomes the National flag of America. Towards the end of the 19th Century and the end of the Reconstruction of the North the Confederates begins their expansion into Latin America as well as the Caribbean, enslaving local Blacks in the Caribbean and creating a Racial Segregation System in Mexico and Central America. By the 1920's the Confederates successfully annexed all of the South Americas by divide and conquer. However this put the CSA in a financial derp causing the Great Depression in the 1930's (similar to our timeline). In 1933 the German Nazi Party seized power which makes no sense whatsoever since there was no mention of Confederate aid to Britain and France during the First World War and also the fact that the Confederates were at war with South America.Although the CSA and Nazi Germany are neutral and maintain a friendly relationship with each other, the CSA decides to go to war with Germany's ally Japan in fear of Japanese expansionism in the Pacific. The Confederates Defeated the Japanese after Launching a Nuclear attack on Japan, and also enslaving the Japanese civilians, not long after Nazi Germany is also somehow defeated and falls to the Russian and British. Years later a Proxy War starts between the CSA and Canada which continued past the 21st century. During the 1950's the CSA build a concrete wall called the "Cotton Curtain" across the Canadian Border whilst an international embargo on the CSA takes place, South Africa becomes the only country to maintain diplomatic relations with America. By the start of the 21st Century the Confederates invade the Middle East in a Moral Crusade to eliminate Islam by converting the populace to Christianity whilst simultaneously taking over Oil productions. Along with the ludicrous back story on how the Confederates came to be, there is also a side story about John Ambrose Fauntroy's presidential election campaign. However his Character seems somewhat pointless and the twist ended in which it is revealed that his great grandfather (John Ambrose Fauntroy the first) and his servant's great grandmother had sex, just went nowhere for me.The movie barely uses any historical facts other than the Confederates plans to invade South America which was plan during the Civil war, there is also no mentions on the Second Mexican Empire which was established in 1864 nor is there any mentions of what happen to that regime. The CSA's History is too much like the US's history, things like the Great Depression, America's war in the Middle East, the Cold war (though with Canada instead of the Soviet Union), The Political unrest of the 1960's and the Vietnam War (again makes no sense in this timeline) is way too identical to our timeline that it makes the history kind of boring. Realistically had the CSA seceded from the US it wouldn't just have affected the Americas but the world. Example of this would be Mexico be rule by a Monarchy, Europe becoming the dominant power of the world, The United States remaining Socialist, Russia not becoming Communist and so on. To be honest, there are way better stories that tell us what would have happened if the Confederates won the war. Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory series is by far the best one, since it shows the Confederates in a divergent history in a more realistic scenario, unlike this film which seems that the people who made it knows absolutely nothing about Confederates.

This is a rather entertaining mockumentary which explores what would have happened had the Confederacy not only won the Civil War but annexed the entire United States and reintroduced slavery to the North, which is still going strong both North and South in the early 21st Century. Now, obviously this completely fails as a believable alternate history but that's fine as it is intended as satire. The premise is that we are watching an extremely controversial documentary about Confederate history made by the British Broadcasting Service.As well as through talking heads, the history of this expanded CSA is illustrated through authentic photographs and newsreel footage and clips from fictional historical films such as D.W. Griffiths' 1915 silent classic "The Hunt for Dishonest Abe" and the 1946 RKO film "The Jefferson Davis Story". In the latter, Davis' slave Popsy is played by a white actor in blackface. As part of the documentary's broadcast on Confederate television, advertisements for various products and businesses with racist names and caricatures, most of which are based directly on actual ones which thankfully no longer exist, are shown. We also see ads for TV series such as "Runaways" (a parody of "Cops") and the kids' show "Uncle Tom and Friends" as well as the Department of Racial Identity, an online slave auction and a new electronic shackle for slaves with a microship to track them down if they run away. All of this makes for uncomfortable viewing but that's good since satire should be uncomfortable for people to watch when it needs to be.On the negative side, the film is paced rather poorly. Even at a relatively short 82 minutes, it's perhaps a tad too long as the joke begins to wear a bit thin and it loses much of its momentum in its second half. Even at its best, it is seldom as intriguing as its premise. It's also a very low budget production which suffers badly from amauterish acting. By and large, I thought that the fake ads worked better than the "actual" documentary as there seemed to have been more thought put into them. The other day, I watched "Curse of the Blair Witch", a 1999 Sci-Fi Channel mockumentary made to promote "The Blair Witch Project", which was far better. The major reason for that was the acting and writing made it seem if it could be real. It looked as if it could have been an episode of "In Search Of...", "Unsolved Mysteries" or a similar program. Even though from the absurd alternate history premise it is far more obvious that this is fake, I feel as if the film could have benefited from the same approach. The basic key to good acting is not to make it look like you're acting and this is too obviously staged.

Heres the thing, it's a really solid premise that's lent itself to numerous books, movies, sci-fi, etc. What if the Confederacy actually turned the tables and won the Civil War? From the viewpoint of a British documentary, the film covers how the altered outcome shaped the economical, cultural, and political development of the nation throughout the 20th century.There are two main issues here. The first is that the film suffers from what appears to be a smaller budget. I can't fault the filmmakers for this one, they did a solid job with what they had. It just becomes obvious at some points that cuts were made in production, so don't expect something too extravagant. At times it almost looks cheesy (not sure if that was the intention).The bigger issue is that it's almost too much to cover in 90 minutes. They try to focus on key points, but some things are completely glossed over and given little/no mention (sports, pop culture, scientific developments). This is definitely a premise that would be better served by a several part miniseries with episodes focused on various aspects of the Confederate culture. Worth a watch though.

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