p e n g u i n d e v i l

Played as a BBC (well, “BBS”) documentary, C.S.A. The Confederate States of America is an odd little film. And valuable, I would say, to an extent. The story of the successor to the USA, the CSA: how they won the war, their rather different kind of Reconstruction, and their history since then. It is mainly told through real old footage (frequently “re-captioned”), fake old footage, and interviews with historians and politicians.

Starting at about the beginning of the War of Northern Aggression, this mocumentary covers the South’s enlistment of England and France in the war and the resulting victory over the Yankees at Gettysburg, the pursuit of Abraham Lincoln (who attempted to flee to Canada in blackface with the help of Harriet Tubman), expanding slavery up north, the wars of expansion in South America, the depression and everything up to the present. One thing that I thought was interesting was viewing the historical figures in a different historical context. Lincoln has none of his “Great Emancipator” reputation and both Jeff Davis and Robert E Lee were portrayed as near-abolitionists, due to some unpopular stands that they took after the war.

It is an interesting blend of fiction and reality. Though a lot of the events in the film didn’t come to pass, some of them were attempted and some of the historical figures shown did, in fact, exist and said and did things referenced here. While everyone is quite familiar with the old institution of slavery, I don’t think that people think much about the sociological environment in which American Slavery took place, to look beyond slavery and see the rest of that world isn’t really shown beyond Gone With the Wind. The fact that the Civil War was about politics and economics more than human rights isn’t oft taught and they point it out early here with a telling, and quite clear, Lincoln quote… One I certainly didn’t hear in grade school.

“If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also so that”

While it sounds, and is, gimmicky, it also has value both in showing some of the thinking involved in the support of slavery, and also to point out really how real the struggle for equal rights has been, as in you start getting the feeling that people haven’t really changed since then and given the option, a lot of people wouldn’t have a hard time embracing the actualities of slavery (well, unless they were the enslaved ones) even in this day and age.

In addition, the film also attempts to show the possible effects that being ruled by such a regressive Christian philosophy would have on: women, other ethnicities and other religious beliefs. I do realize that is our current situation, but as they occasionally go out of power, it has stifled their efforts somewhat. The extension of some of the thoughts into modern times is interesting, if only to show how people aren’t as far removed as they might like to think from those old-fashioned world views.

The documentary is interspersed with television ad’s, all of which are completely pro-slavery and racist (though some are uncomfortably funny in how extreme they go). None of them are anything that I will reference in these pages. The most unsettling thing about the commercials is the trivia about their origins shown at the end of the movie, which would be hard to believe if I didn’t have distant memories of eating at Sambo’s Restaurant in the early 1970’s.