C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America

On Saturday we went to see Kevin Willmott’s C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America at Pittsburgh’s Harris Theater. This film is a done as a Ken Burns-like British documentary airing on American TV. The premise is that the South won the War of Northern Aggression (aka the Civil War), took over the entire country, and established the Confederate States of America, which went in a markedly different direction than what actually happened. Under the stars and bars of the C.S.A., the country saw an expansion of slavery, expanded into Cuba, Mexico, and South America, never granted voting rights to women, and was allied with Germany in the 2nd World War. A Cotton Curtain was established between the C.S.A. and abolitionist Canada.

Since the setting is as a television documentary on network TV, the program is broken up by a number of “commercials,” many of which hawk racially offensive products. A Newsbreak is thrown in for good measure.

The story’s premise could have easily been a reality – the British and French actually did consider aiding the Confederacy, which could have led to the South winning the war. And many of the racially offensive products on the commercials were actual products. One can only hope that their advertising was not as blatantly racist as depicted.

This film is both a spoof and a social statement. It is at its best when doing the short advertising spots and vignettes of past events (like a silent movie of “Dishonest Abe” being captured while attempting to escape to Canada), some of which were extremely funny. The film relies heavily on comedy to make its absurdity more believable. However, its attempts at creating a cohesive history of the country are awkward at times. Nevertheless, the film does show a Confederate States of America that struggles with the implications of slavery and racism. In that, maybe it’s not all that different from the history of the real United States of America.