C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004)

Eh. This one is ok. But just ok. It's a satire set up as an "alternative history" of the US: what would have happened had the South won the Civil War and slavery were still a nationwide practice. The first third or so of the film offers a deft commentary in terms of a one-to-one comparison (Jefferson Davis was actually caught in drag, in the film Abraham Lincoln is caught in black-face) but once we get past the first part of the twentieth century, the history gets a little sketchy and lacks the tight comparisons that make the first part good. There is also a storyline running throughout the movie of the Fauntroy family from the Civil War to the present: this was flat and seemed trite and contrived to make a cohesive "personal" story out of what could have been sustained by a tighter historical satire. The "documentary" is split into sections by commercials, some of which are for actual products but this info is not divulged until the end of the film. The pinpoints of reality dotting the film, when it all looks equally outrageous, is interesting but doesn't save the film. Overall, it's an interesting look at "what could have happened" while showing us the some of the seemingly ridiculousness is real but it lacks the deftness to sustain the running time.