Metro Cinema Society: C.S.A.: Confederate States of America

C.S.A.: Confederate States of America

USA 2004, 89 min, 35mm, Dir: Kevin Wilmott

American history is turned on its head in this bitterly satirical mockumentary from writer and director Kevin Willmott. Taking the form of a BBC-style documentary about slavery in America, C.S.A. traces the history of the Confederate States of America, beginning as the South won the Civil War (the 'War of Northern Aggression'). Following the Confederate victory, Abraham Lincoln is defeated and attempts escape in blackface. Fueled by unpaid workers, the economy expands rapidly and the nation extends into Mexico and Latin America. Hitler is advised not to exterminate his Jews but to put them to work. Canada becomes the centre of abolitionism and the two countries are separated by a Cold War, and the Cotton Curtain. The fictional history is worked out in convincing detail and the wilder elements have a plausible ring; Willmott has done his research and translated many elements of South Africa during apartheid and Nazi Germany to his Confederate States. C.S.A. confronts the American heritage of intolerance with a biting, black humour that prevents the proceedings from turning dull or didactic. And with its sterling 'commercial breaks' - populated by ads for based-in-fact products like "Niggerhair Cigarettes" and "Darky Toothpaste" - the film also reveals the depressingly thin line between elements of its fantastic set-up and authentic American history.