# Did anyone see the movie C.S.A.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2008, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136 "2008-01-19T08:27:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShermanAter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ShermanAter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShermanAter)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2008, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/1 "2008-01-19T08:27:13Z")
Confederate States of America. I had never heard of this 2004 film that is based on the premise that the South won the Civil War. I think it is a very powerful film and am amazed that it isn’t more widely discussed. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2008, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/2 "2008-01-19T08:54:27Z")
We saw it in the theater during the 1 week it played. I had read about it beforehand and knew I wanted to see it, and was shocked when I saw that it was playing at a tiny hole-in-the-wall theater. I didn’t think it was as well-executed as perhaps it could have been, but I did think it was powerful and disturbing in its own way. Fairly funny too, though I often felt uncomfortable with the fact that I was laughing. I was hoping that my laughing wasn’t telling me something about myself that I didn’t want to know. I kept thinking, man, racists would love this movie…I bet it’ll be shown at racist conventions in the future. It made me feel dirty to know that I belonged to the same species as people who would wish that the South HAD won. Ugh. It’s so very very low budget. I wonder if the filmmakers made their money back. ---
**Author:** ![ShermanAter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ShermanAter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShermanAter)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2008, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/3 "2008-01-19T09:20:59Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] We saw it in the theater during the 1 week it played. I had read about it beforehand and knew I wanted to see it, and was shocked when I saw that it was playing at a tiny hole-in-the-wall theater. I didn’t think it was as well-executed as perhaps it could have been, but I did think it was powerful and disturbing in its own way. Fairly funny too, though I often felt uncomfortable with the fact that I was laughing. I was hoping that my laughing wasn’t telling me something about myself that I didn’t want to know. I kept thinking, man, racists would love this movie…I bet it’ll be shown at racist conventions in the future. It made me feel dirty to know that I belonged to the same species as people who would wish that the South HAD won. Ugh. It’s so very very low budget. I wonder if the filmmakers made their money back. [/QUOTE] I am wondering why I had never heard of this film. The advertisements are funny in a Saturday Night Live, Dave Chappel kind of way. I was nodding off in my chair and woke up half way through this movie. (The wine and clam spaghetti got the best of me) I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. I felt a bit uncomfortable too. Thanks for your candor and I hope to hear from others thta saw this. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/4 "2008-01-19T16:12:28Z")
I saw it. I think I got it from Netflix after reading about it here. I remember thinking it was an interesting idea, and laughing a lot, and wondering if it would have been more important if they’d had a bit more money. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/5 "2008-01-19T18:16:15Z")
I caught the last 30 minutes on IFC the other night, quite by accident, and was profoundly disturbed. I’m not sure why, but it really freaked me out. I sorta made a joke to my husband afterwards along the lines of “Well, I’m convinced. Slavery was bad…” I think what bothered me about it was that to me it was so believable. And yeah, it was strangely funny, in its own way. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/6 "2008-01-19T19:07:40Z")
I missed the first 30 minutes of it, but enjoyed it nonetheless. The fake commercials caught me by surprise, and I found them funny as well as educational (in a twisted way). It had the same surreal realism that was in _Bamboozled_. One part of your mind is saying “No way it would ever be that bad!” But yet you could see it happening. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/7 "2008-01-20T04:31:04Z")
To quote the [NY Times](http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/movies/15stat.html) review: > [@](#): > > Most of the commercials are too on the nose to be really funny, though an ad for a series called “Runaways,” clearly modeled on the reality show “Cops,” elicits a pained laugh because it gets at the original’s inherent racism with such ease. As noted in the credits, the ads were based on actual products available in the 20th century ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/8 "2008-01-20T05:31:32Z")
Actually, one of our fellow dopers worked on this film. I won’t reveal her SN because it’s up to her if she wants to post. But it would be interesting to hear her take on the experience. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/9 "2008-01-20T06:50:45Z")
I caught it on cable the other week, and like most people here, I found the movie to be a bit unsettling and the commercials to be amusing. The end credits had me floored. I learned a lot about our history and quite a bit about myself. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/10 "2008-01-20T13:49:29Z")
I thought it was sort of amusing, but as far as any “what if” historical value it is an absolute joke. Why would the rebel flag fly over the White House? Why would slavery still exist in the present day? It makes no sense… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/11 "2008-01-20T22:24:25Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] …Why would the rebel flag fly over the White House? Why would slavery still exist in the present day? It makes no sense.. [/QUOTE] Because not only did the film have the South winning the Civil War it also had them conquering the North and establishing slavery the Union. :dubious: Also for the some reason this kept women from ever getting the vote. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/12 "2008-01-21T00:43:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Did anyone see the movie C.S.A.? No, but the director tried to date my wife! (Well before I met her). I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard that it is a somewhat interesting idea that dóesn’t really get past rather obvious and/or facile observations on a conterfactual history – somewhat like _A Day without a Mexican_, which many liked but which I found amateurish and unfunny (though it makes an important point). But, I may be biased (see above) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/13 "2008-01-21T01:03:51Z")
I worked on it (Hi Ender!) as a camera assistant and part-time director of photography, as well as anything else that was needed. It was VERY low budget. As far as I know, no one got paid, not the actors, not the director. We worked on it for about 7 years, and it went through some major revisions in the last year or so, the funny was toned down quite a bit. No, we didn’t make the money back on it… yet. 🙂 Kevin Willmott’s current film is called The Only Good Indian… I worked on that too, very briefly. I got involved with CSA in college, when I convinced the final DP (Matt Jacobson) to take the job when there were creative differences with the first DP. I was there for the majority of the shooting and some of the editing, and attended most of the special screenings in KC. Any specific questions I can answer? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-see-the-movie-c-s-a/434136/14 "2008-01-21T01:53:05Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Because not only did the film have the South winning the Civil War it also had them conquering the North and establishing slavery the Union. :dubious: Also for the some reason this kept women from ever getting the vote. [/QUOTE] This was a major problem I had. While black male suffrage was an impetus to granting white women the right to vote, they weren’t inextricably linked. Seems to me that the filmakers unfairly denied the CSA the same enlightenment that only later evolved in the North.