What if the South had won the Civil War? Confederate States of America, CSA, is a mockumentary from writer/director Kevin Wilmott. Wilmott got the idea from watching Ken Burns’ The Civil War documentary on PBS. Using the old Open University format of interviews, historical evidence and old movie footage to tell its story depicting shining happy white people and their subservient black slaves. You even get to see commercials interspersed as if they were created in a world where the CSA actually exists.
The North and Abraham Lincoln are defeated and the former President attempts to escape to Canada with the help of Harriet Tubman. The economy, fuelled by unpaid workers, expands rapidly. America expands south into the Carribean, Central and South America. The Northern states are compelled by taxation to accept slavery. African leaders sell tribes across the Atlantic for money. Hitler is advised not to exterminate his Jews but to put them to work. Canada becomes the centre of abolitionism and suffers air strikes as a consequence. All of this fictional history is worked out in great detail. Often times you’re asking yourself if this is real or not.
Throughout the film slavery is portrayed as normal and acceptable, often times trying a bit too hard to make you feel uncomfortable and it works. The mockumentary isn’t here to make any points, instead it’s a What If? that’s well done. To be honest some of the ads get a little cheesy and a tad annoying but overall the movie is well done. It’s definitely something to check out.