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C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004)
R0 - United Kingdom - Tartan Video UK Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen/Noor Razzak (5th May 2007). |
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The Film
 “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America” is not a purely fictional feature, nor is it a documentary. It´s a “mockumentary”. This means that the film plays like it would be a real documentary, but everything is acted and most of the “facts” made up. It´s using some real historical footage in the wrong context, but also creating it´s own phony news reels and similar. In “C.S.A.” (film is supposedly done by the British), the South has won the American Civil War (1861–1865). So instead of “United States of America”, the country is now known as “Confederate States of America”. The leader of the North (“The Union”), president Abraham Lincoln is captured and convicted of “war crimes” (he dies in exile in Canada). The president of “Confederate States of America” (during the Civil War) Jefferson Davis and general of the Confederate forces Robert E. Lee are the nations new heroes and Confederate flags are soon everywhere. America is now using “divide and conquer” tactics towards Mexico and South-America (eventually “Mexican America” and “Southern America”) and later on the rising Nazi Germany becomes America´s ally and Adolf Hitler himself is visiting New York and Washington, to talk about the slave labour. Huge wall (“Cotton Curtain”) is built over the whole Canadian border and instead of the Soviet Union, the “Cold War” is against Canada. Japan is still the enemy, since the Asian people are not liked in Confederate (they´re of course also slaves in America). Most of all, slavery is still in effect in America - like it never went away. To give more “satirical” elements to the play and glue the whole film together, fake commercial breaks (slave-related products and such) and “Public Service Announcements” - along with the even more fake TV-program-segments (e.g. “COPS” is now “Runaway” - where escaped slaves are hunted down and there are even “Slave Shopping Network”) are included. There are also “old news reels” and film clips. Since this is a “documentary” after all, there is a proper narrator and interviews e.g. by the two main “historians” that guide the viewer through. Everything is done in a way such that the film is just telling the history of “The Confederate States of America” and calmly showing what is now the everyday life in the country. Owning slaves is like a owning a washing machine. American director/writer Kevin Willmott has done a bold and clever “mockumentary”, which makes the viewer amused by the satire and “dark humour”, but on the other hand it also makes them feel slightly eerie. The film definitely takes a stand against racism and reminds us all that in one time there were actually slaves in America - something that´s hard to imagine in a modern day world. The message is (for me, at least) that although there are no slaves anymore, there is still racism and prejudice, still people who are not feeling entirely “free”. The thoughts and actions by the political leaders and powerful people are still often old fashioned, too focused on the problems outside home. Lot of work still has to be done, until America is free from the racist elements (well, if ever). This applies to the countless other nations. “C.S.A.” is a fresh attempt to provide some thoughts to the people, using satire and humour to make a serious point. The structure is well paced, but ultimately the film is too long and also partly repetitive. Some of the various excerpts are unnecessary long and the “acting” shows (could be partly intentional). The audience might find themselves on the verge of becoming bored - at least when the film progresses, since there are no real surprises waiting for them. This type of film also might not be for everyone, meaning that if you´re not really interested in documentaries, I doubt that “mockumentary” makes you shout in excitement. Then again serious history fans might not have time to watch something that is almost make-believe, even when there are some connections to the some modern problems. Some knowledge of history and e.g. about the American Civil War is also good to have, since the film doesn´t really explain what really happened back then. So potentially there might be some confusion. The viewer has a certain responsibility to find the right “clues” from the film to fully enjoy it, since at the 90 minutes running time it gives plenty to chew on. “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America” is a good effort and worth a look, but in the end it´s not that interesting and groundbreaking as it could´ve been. Note, that Spike Lee is listed as “presenter” (not e.g. “producer”) in the film. Apparently this happened after the initial public release and his name is also on the cover of the DVD.
Video
The film is presented in its OAR of 4:3. There´s different “material” included (most are shot for the documentary, but digitally “aged” to match the old news reels, etc), so the look isn´t always that even. There´s also some real old news reel material. Since most of the footage is essentially shot in video (DV), some softness and noise are present. There are also some compression issues and some edge enhancement. The look of the transfer still suits just fine for the film and I have no major complaints. The “dual layer” disc is “R0” encoded and has 12 chapters. The film runs 89:23 minutes (PAL).
Audio
The film has one audio track, which is English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (with Surround-encoding). There are no subtitles of any kind. The audio is based on the narration and interviews, which sound a bit lifeless, but still quite clear. Music gives some minor boost for the sound field (if you use “Pro Logic” from your receiver, it comes nicely from the rear channels), but that´s about it. Again - nothing special, but nothing to really complain about either.
Extras
(Note, that the “Extras”-section is reviewed by Noor Razzak in 2006 and the section is taken from the review of the R1-release by the ”Genius Products”) First up is a feature-length audio commentary by writer/director Kevin Wilmott and producer Rick Cowan. This track is entitled "How we spent three years of our life" and basically covers the making of this film over the three year production process. They discuss creative decisions they made as well as the changes made to the final film after test screenings. They shed insight into the people involved in the film and provide background on the commercials and various sequences in the film as well as the amount of the research that went into the film from gathering archival footage and photos to providing context behind some of the quotes used in the film. It is clear that the filmmakers were going for a Ken Burns approach to the making of the film. Overall it's a highly detailed track that should not be missed. A second feature-length audio commentary is also included by writer/director Kevin Wilmott as he comments on the "Reality Of The Fiction". He explains the choices he made from a historical perspective as well as the commercials and how slavery is an important subject that many people have forgotten about. He attempts to put slavery in it's proper place in it's influence of the civil war as well as goes into further detail on the footage and photos used in the film. This track makes a good historical supplement to the film but there is some overlap from the previous track, so it you might like to keep your finger on the chapter skip button on your remote as you listen to this one. Next up is a series of 11 deleted and extended scenes (13:20 min). Below are the scenes included (there are no subtitles): - "Confederate States Air Force" which runs for 33 seconds. This is a TV spot for the air force. - "Confederate States Air Force" Version 2 runs for 30 seconds and is an alternate version of the previous ad this time with a motivational narration. - "Terrorist Threat" runs for 35 seconds and is a new broadcast of a terrorist message from a group called 'JBU' - "You Might Be A Damned Yankee if..." runs for 42 seconds and is a commercial for a stand-up show. - "Unkle Tom And Friends" runs for 42 seconds and is a spot for a children's TV show. - "Be A Good One" runs for 1 minute 18 seconds, and is a behaviour modification film from the Department of Slave Labor. - "Runaway" runs for 59 seconds and is an extended montage of the "COPS" inspired show. - "That's My Boy!" runs for 32 seconds and is another commercial for a TV show starring a dancing slave. - "Cartwright Institute" runs for 1 minute 42 seconds, this is a behind-the-scenes look at the research conducted by the institute on slaves. - "Family Values" runs for 2 minutes 56 seconds, this is a Public Service Announcement on the Family Values Act of 1980 and how it's your responsibility to society to be a good slave owner. - "The Hunt For Dishonest Abe" runs for 3 minutes 9 seconds and is an extended version of the silent film seen in the documentary. *Tartan UK: 4-page booklet includes liner notes by Kaleem Aftab (author of “ Spike Lee: That´s My Story and I´m Sticking to It”).
Overall
The strength of “C.S.A.” is that it brings several thoughts to the viewers and is raising some issues in a clever way. I still have my doubts that the film will hold repeat viewings, mainly because it´s not very easy to swallow and not very “mainstream” to find a bigger audience. The DVD from “Tartan” is a good effort, including probably more extras than you would expect. For more info, please visit the homepage of Tartan Video (UK).
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