The Confederate States of America

[whynotsmile]

Looks damn interesting

http://www.csathemovie.com/

watch the trailer. What do you think?

[Mopower]

I thought it might be a serious look at what would have happened. Then I remembered it was Spike Lee that made it.

[Matthew Chmiel]

I thought it might be a serious look at what would have happened. Then I remembered it was Spike Lee that made it.
Spike Lee has nothing to do with the film. He's just "presenting" it. When the film was being made by IFC Films a few years ago, no mention of Lee's name was ever popping up in the information they were releasing.

I've been wanting to see this film for two years now. I hope it's actually a good film and not unlike the shit that was A Day Without a Mexican.

[tacomantt]

Reminds me of that switcheroo John Travolta movie White Man's Burden.

[DaveCole]

I plan to see it next Friday when Washburn University offers a free showing and a discussion with Kevin Willmott.

[Groucho]

Looks a bit heavy-handed and over the top.

[ChrisKnudsen]

It has been shown here in Lawrence for a couple of years now. Someone in town here end up making it. A lot of people here said it was pretty interesting but a little dry.

[Breakfast with Girls]

It'd be interesting if this was actually a historically-based look at what would have happened had the CSA achieved independence. But this just looks dumb.

[Matthew Chmiel]

It'd be interesting if this was actually a historically-based look at what would have happened had the CSA achieved independence. But this just looks dumb.
As much as I want to see the film, I agree with your thoughts. It's a great concept, but it looks like terrible execution.

The trailer reminds me a lot of the trainwreck known as A Day Without a Mexican. However, that film had no fucking clue what it wanted to be (let alone a social satire mockumentary or a serious drama).

But I'm still interested due the premise alone.

[das Monkey]

Yeah, this really looks dumb.

das

[onebyone]

This movie looks really, really bad. It looks so horrible it is almost like they are trying to make it look, but alas, I don't think they are.

[ReservoirDog45]

Being a huge Civil War fan, reading the plot summery I find it to be utterly fascinating look at what might have been. The trailer is a little goofy but I will definatly see this

[Breakfast with Girls]

Being a huge Civil War fan, reading the plot summery I find it to be utterly fascinating look at what might have been. The trailer is a little goofy but I will definatly see thisSeriously? This has a marginal connection to the Civil War at best.

[shaun3000]

Agreed. For starters, we would have two separate countries. That's what the whole damn war was about. The Confederacy wanted to secede from the union and the Union wanted to keep them. (Not sure why, honestly. Except Texas. They should have fought to keep Texas. ;))

[Groucho]

Seriously? This has a marginal connection to the Civil War at best.Exactly. The real premise is "What if slavery were legal in today's modern world?" a topic that Eddie Murphy already adequately covered in a 30 second SNL skit 20+ years ago.

[mrhan]

According to historians--slavery would have eventually been abolished due to the fact that most of the civilized countries of that time were doing away with slavery. The U.S. would have felt the pressure of other countries looking down at this and would have had to eventually given up the practice. Besides, with the advent of machinery to do field work; what else would they need the slaves for? This movie could never happen.

[Dr. DVD]

Looks interesting, but a little over the top.

[DoubleDownAgain]

That was horrible. I could barely sit through the trailer, not to mention a full length movie.

[Heat]

Just saw it on IFC. It's, well, interesting. Honestly, it wasn't shocking to me - it was actually pretty boring. Funny at times like how a Saturday Night Live skit is funny (way over the top), but overall it was pretty boring.

Here's the basic plot:

It's a mocumentary showing the past 140 years of the Confederate States of America. Basically the CSA got the support of France and Britain during the Civil War and, with their help, won. They then took over the North so the USA was the CSA and of course slavery was allowed. Pretty soon they also took over all of North and South America, except for Canada, which was a place where blacks were able to live freely. That's pretty much it, slavery is still allowed in the CSA (all of the Americas except for Canada) through the present time. And there are mock-commercials throughout the show.

At the end of the film was really the most sobering part of it, where they showed that some of the products that were in the commercials were real products that were sold mainly in the early 1900s but some through the 1950s, and some of the ideas in the film were real ideas (like the idea that there was a disease that made slaves want to run away and be free).
Should you run out to see it? Not really, unless you are a fan of alternate history or if you really want to see it because it was (is) a controversial film. Will this ever be shown in theaters or even on mainstream TV in the US? No way. Actually I'm kind of suprised that IFC even showed it.

[Matthew Chmiel]

Should you run out to see it? No, there are much, much better shows to watch. Will this ever be shown in theaters or even on mainstream TV in the US? No way.
Um, it actually was shown in theaters. IFC Films gave it a limited release.

And I would consider IFC to be a mainstream cable channel, considering it's provided by most cable and satelite companies. And IFC showed it, well, because, IFC owns the rights to the movie.

EDIT: The film made around $700,000 in 28 theaters during it's 39-week release. Which isn't that bad considering the very limited release it got. However, A Day Without a Mexican netted almost $5 million in 107 theaters during it's 31-week release. :shrug:

[Heat]

That film was actually in theaters?

And by "mainstream", I meant network TV (ABC, NBC etc).

[Matthew Chmiel]

Yes, IFC Films played it in major cities that have art-house theaters OR theaters with screens dedicated to indepedent films. It played in Las Vegas for one week, I remember, as I wanted to see it (but was extremely lazy).

I edited my first post with the total gross of that and the film I mentioned a year and a half ago that's similar to it.

[Giantrobo]

Looks silly to me but who knows, it may be ok.

[DeputyDave]

It was humorous and a bit interesting. Nothing to get excited about.