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"Confederate States of America: The Movie"
The Boston Fishwrap ^ | 2/26/06 | Burr

Posted on 02/26/2006 1:56:28 PM PST by pabianice

Kevin Willmott's ersatz documentary "CSA: The Confederate States of America" is an act of provocation that's sheer genius in its conceptual simplicity. Fairly unoriginal, too. Writers and historians have been penning "what-if" scenarios predicated on the War Between the States going the other way for decades; I recall MacKinley Kantor's "If the South Had Won the Civil War" on my elementary school reading list years ago, and more recent authors such as Harry Turtledove and Roger L. Ransom have addressed the matter as well.

Willmott isn't interested in academic niceties. He wants to make you laugh and hurt at the same time, and then he wants you to think. So his film -- ostensibly a British documentary being aired on a local San Francisco station -- opens with an ad for Confederate Family Insurance, complete with a happy white family, soothing banjo music, and a smiling young African-American slave tending the garden. What follows is nothing less than a satiric takedown of our assumptions about racial progress.

Presented by Spike Lee and constructed as a finely tuned parody of the Ken Burns school of filmmaking (period music, old photos, talking-head experts), "CSA" sketches out a disquieting alternative history of the United States. It begins with the South winning Gettysburg thanks to the appearance of French and British troops alongside the Confederate Army, Europe's intervention having been won with the assistance of diplomat Judah Benjamin. (This prompts Jefferson Davis to later say, "Don't you evah forget, suh, that it was a blood-sucking Jew who saved this country.")

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: americanhistory; csa; dixie; moviereview
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To: Non-Sequitur
That done right enough for you?

no , that's just another stupid fantasy based on the same tired old stereotypes . I could only manage to read one of
Turtleduds books .
Of course we all know what happened ,happened the way it did for a reason and there ain't no changin nuthin at this point .
Personally , I am vastly more concerned with our winning the WoT than worrying about 'what if's' 145 years ago.
21 posted on 02/26/2006 3:02:16 PM PST by LeoWindhorse
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To: Robe

The war was going to happen, one way or another. Lincoln was not going to let the rebellion happen on his watch.

Fort Sumter provided the spark old Abe needed. I'm of southern descent and my people fought for the CSA. Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, fought a total war for victory against our people. It could not have been otherwise.

The only hope for southern victory was a fast campaign. Lee refused to march on Washington after Bull Run. It was open and undefended. That decision ended southern prospects. You cannot fight a gentleman's war.

This portraying us as Nazis and bigot slaveowners is preposterous. Without the south, Albert Gore would be president. Tennessee kept him from the presidency, his own state. Try winning a presidential election without us. The north is basically communist.

Southern boys are fighting in Iraq now, and have given themselves for the USA in how many wars and how many generations? It's the most patriotic, freedom loving, God fearing, and best integrated area of the country. Spike Lee is a bigot and a fool.


22 posted on 02/26/2006 3:05:48 PM PST by Luke21
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To: Non-Sequitur

I left Turtledove's books in the middle of WWI. It was quite evident by then where he was going and where his sympathies lay. Quite sad really. Really could have delved much deeper into the 16th President's Socialist leanings and where that would have taken the north. But he had to go off the deep end to demonize good Southern men didn't he?


23 posted on 02/26/2006 3:06:50 PM PST by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: Non-Sequitur
As historians ( I'm am amatuer one ) we can argue this point to the extreme.. as well it has been.. it all depends on the point of view one has......
As for the statements of Maj. Anderson, it is in the form of a diary he kept , and was written as point counter point to his moving to the Fort..
(This was a suprise to me when I saw at it thru a glass panel at the Relic Room) However, I must submit to you that the move of Federal Troops to a "blocking point" in Charleston Harbor was a provocative move, in the mind of the South Carolina G'vmt
24 posted on 02/26/2006 3:08:05 PM PST by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
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To: billbears
Really could have delved much deeper into the 16th President's Socialist leanings and where that would have taken the north.

He probably found the Nazi Confederacy concept more likely.

But he had to go off the deep end to demonize good Southern men didn't he?

If he had demonized Northern men you would have lapped it up huh?

25 posted on 02/26/2006 3:09:49 PM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: pabianice

LOL - I am married to a native Texan. Down here they still don't like Yankees. I mean *really don't*. We brought bad manners, hateful driving, nasty accents, and forgot all about how to say 'maam' and 'sir'.

And after 20+ years here, I am beginning to think like her....


26 posted on 02/26/2006 3:12:15 PM PST by txzman (Jer 23:29)
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To: Robe
However, I must submit to you that the move of Federal Troops to a "blocking point" in Charleston Harbor was a provocative move, in the mind of the South Carolina G'vmt

With virtually all of his garrison in Fort Moultrie, totally indefensible from the landward side, in a city filled with rumors of an impending attack on his garrison, what choice did Anderson have but to shift his forces to the most defensible post under his command?

27 posted on 02/26/2006 3:13:11 PM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: pabianice
 
I just about laughed my ass off when I watched that trailer.
 
Ping me when the DVD comes out. This could be as good a film as was the "King of Hearts."

28 posted on 02/26/2006 3:14:52 PM PST by Radix (Stop domestic violence. Beat a broad.)
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To: pabianice


...it's by Spike Lee?

I think I'll pass...


29 posted on 02/26/2006 3:17:59 PM PST by Tzimisce (How Would Mohammed Vote? Hillary for President!)
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To: pabianice

I'm guessing that he fails to include the part about the first legal slave-owner in America was A BLACK MAN????


30 posted on 02/26/2006 3:18:22 PM PST by tcrlaf
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To: Luke21

It ain't just yew sutherners fightin in that there desert war over in Iraq by the way.

I recently met a young Army officer from the Bayou area, and he was just about one of the brightest people I have ever known. .......Non sequitor.

I probably agree with you concerning Spike Lee, but I still think that trailer was funny, and I'd actually like to see that movie now.


31 posted on 02/26/2006 3:20:26 PM PST by Radix (Stop domestic violence. Beat a broad.)
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To: Robe; Non-Sequitur
Image hosting by Photobucket
32 posted on 02/26/2006 3:20:36 PM PST by dynachrome ("Where am I? Where am I going? Why am I in a handbasket?")
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To: tcrlaf
I'm guessing that he fails to include the part about the first legal slave-owner in America was A BLACK MAN????

I guessing that considering that the Spain was in North America for quite a bit longer than the British the first legal slave-owner in America was A SPANIARD!!!

33 posted on 02/26/2006 3:21:55 PM PST by Non-Sequitur
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To: pabianice

Someone needs to point out to Mr. Lee that all those that fled to "Red Canada" (Red Canada = Red States, get it?) to be with Lincoln were Republicans and all those that were victorous in his film were Democrats.


34 posted on 02/26/2006 3:36:11 PM PST by usmcobra (I always sing Karaoke the way it is meant to be sung, drunk, badly, and in Japanese)
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To: Non-Sequitur
He probably found the Nazi Confederacy concept more likely

Don't really see how, as the Nazi goals fit more along the same lines as General Order 11

If he had demonized Northern men you would have lapped it up huh?

Of course not. I can't stand revisionist history passed off as factual. He wouldn't have had to demonize them, just take the next logical step from the reports of union actions in the Official Records. Of course maybe delve a bit more into General Grant's propensity for political corruption, if not outright organized crime, as well. As it was, at least he did portray Custer as a doddering old fool for awhile.

35 posted on 02/26/2006 3:48:09 PM PST by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: pabianice
I read a novel some years ago by the same name that was a fictional account of "what if". It was fairly well written, and I considered well thought out. There was no hatred to speak of, and the roles of north and south were reversed.
The north was a wasteland, and the south immensely prosperous (fairly visionary by today's standards). Blacks were not slaves in this book, they were segregated, and by much of their own choice. The black and white society co-existed side by side, with no hatred, or violence, however there was an alot of racism from the elders of both sides. It was an interesting read. I can't imagine this Spike Lee crap was based on the same book.
36 posted on 02/26/2006 3:50:47 PM PST by rikkir (My goal this year: Push a Moonbat over the edge by increasing our majorities!!)
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To: Garvin

I agree with Garvin. I saw the trailer, and think that it is childish, stupid, vicious, and non-historical. That is, it is not at all what would have happened had the South won.

I do not think that slavery can coexist well with a modern, capitalist society. Where it does exist today is in places like Cuba, where a whole country is enslaved, and wouldn't you know it: Spike Lee loves Castro. Slavery is also a specialty of the Islamic world, which makes it very odd that people will become Black Moslems.


37 posted on 02/26/2006 4:07:56 PM PST by docbnj
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To: Non-Sequitur
what choice did Anderson have but to shift his forces to the most defensible post under his command?

A most prudent military move indeed, however he WAS NOT UNDER ATTACK, and moved into the most provocative position in the area. Maybe he should have folded his banners and moved his Garrison elsewhere, Or was that a not so honorable move and that macho-ism prevailed?

38 posted on 02/26/2006 4:09:41 PM PST by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
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To: Robe
You should go back and read the information linked in Post #16 above. You do not understand it.
I draw your attention to the following legislation by the state of South Carolina:

"Resolved, That this state do cede to the United States, all the right, title and claim of South Carolina to the site of Fort Sumter and the requisite quantity of adjacent territory,..."

Note that the date of this legislation is 1836 and it does not say "will", as in "sometime in the future". It means "now" as in 1836. So the fort was Federal property in 1861. And it was constructed with Federal money.
Major Anderson also understood that he was placed in command of the fortifications of Charleston, and he placed his men and resources to maximize their security and the defensibility of his position in the face of his enemy, as any officer should do. The screams of outrage of his counterparts is actually evidence of their bad faith and bad intentions. Probably they expected the Major to give in without a struggle, presumably because he was from Kentucky and they expected him to be sympathetic to their cause. Therefore they expected him to stand still for their little coup and didn't have to hurry it. And so were terribly peeved when he did not.
Major Anderson understood the concept of defending the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and he fulfilled that duty to the letter, as an American officer should.
To insinuate that fulfilling his duty is "macho-ism"(sp) is beneath you.
39 posted on 02/26/2006 5:02:46 PM PST by Cheburashka
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To: Radix

I saw the trailer, and it seemed like an old, played-out stereotype. If the South is so bad, why are so many people moving down here?

Secondly, this is very clearly a liberal piece of garbage. They are angry because the Southern and some Midwestern states are the only ones who keep this country from voting Socialist. How well do you think a "satire" of Massachusetts in which everybody was gay would go over with the MSM? Probably not very well.


40 posted on 02/26/2006 5:16:05 PM PST by SC33
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