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CSA: The Confederate States of America

Mockumentary recasts results of "The War of Northern Aggression."

By PETER KEOUGH | February 23, 2006

1.5 Stars

WHAT'S SCARIEST in CSA is how little things would have changed

Those who found Spike Lee’s Bamboozled too subtle won’t have that problem with Kevin Willmott’s satire (for which Lee is credited as “presenter”). A mock documentary about the victor in the “War of the Northern Aggression” shown on “Confederate TV” complete with commercial breaks, this Ken Burns parody does little more than recapitulate American history with little ingenuity, humor, or purpose. After its victory over the North, with the help of the French and British, the CSA’s course includes broad twists on such events as Reconstruction, Pearl Harbor, and the assassination of “Republican” President John Kennedy. The doctored archival footage may be creepy, but the sophomoric clips from invented movies and the dumb commercials merely annoy. An ad for a Cops-like show called Runaway makes the film’s point succinctly; what’s scariest about such a hypothetical history is how little things would have changed.

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View the trailer for CSA: Confederate States of America (Windows Media)

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