Confederate States of America

 

Wow!  This was a troubling movie on so many fronts.  This movie uses a Ken Burns documentary style to tell the history of the CSA, Confederate States of America as if the South had won the Civil War.  The creators did a pretty good job making a plausible case for what the country might be like had the South won.  The most ridiculous parts were the fake ads shown throughout the movie.  I wasn’t sure whether I should be laughing at some of the parodies or crying.  Some of them seemed so over the top, then they revealed at the end that a good number of the fake ads were for ACTUAL products that existed at one time (usually during the 20s and 30s).  Oil for cars, cigarettes, touthpaste and all sorts of other items had horrible names and images attached to them.  Then the filmmakers reminded us that we still have Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.  I have to say, it makes me reconsider whether I’ll buy those items again.  The film was certainly thought provoking if hard to watch at times.  It points out some important events in our history and how they might have progressed differently.  I guess that’s why alternate histories are interesting.  I’d like to say it was “fun” too, but this one was more serious than fun.