Guest Blogger: Film Review

Hello All.

It is Kevin once again, reviewing something in place of Aimee's normally light-hearted fare.

Now in case any of you don't know (Actually, I don't see why you would), I am highly political. My college major was political science and I always dreamed of going into politics. I still do in a way, but not as a candidate. I feel as though you really have to sell your soul in order to successfully run for office. However, I still harbor the dream to become a top advisor to a candidate in whom I truly believe.

That being said, my taste in documentary films tends to drift towards the political in nature, both liberal and conservative. "The Confederate States of America" is one such movie.

"The Confederate States of America" is a mockumentary that presents an alternate universe in which the South had won the Civil War, more commonly known as "The War of Northern Aggression". The viewer is treated as though they are watching a Confederate TV Station and the "Documentary" is presented in the style of a Ken Burns film.

In the movie, the South was able to secure French and British support during the war, which turned the tide for the Confederates. In reality, they nearly succeeded in securing European support which more than likely would have yielded the result presented in the film.

The abolitionist northerners are exiled to Canada, along with African-Americans (now African-Canadians) who refused to regress back into slavery. The rest of the north are part of Reconstruction, and are assimilated into the southern way of life.

The film then follows an alternate history in which slavery is never abolished and American society never truly evolves beyond propaganda films and Lawrence Welk, while Canada is the cultural center of the world and routinely dominates the Olympic games. 

From a political standpoint, the roles of the Democratic and Republican parties are never reversed, as they were in our history. For those who don't know, up until around Woodrow Wilson's administration. The Republicans were known as the liberal, progressive party while the Democrats were the conservatives.

The film talks about the 1960 election as being between Republican John F. Kennedy and Democrat Richard Nixon.

The film really makes an interesting case for showing just how important the Civil War was to our society. Radical Christian fundamentalism was allowed to reign supreme in this alternate universe, eventually outlawing all other forms of religion and atheism, as the country exhibited some of the less extreme signs of totalitarian government mixed with representative democracy.

I would highly recommend this film to anyone who has an interest in American history or politics. Even those with a minimal understanding can appreciate the imprtance of what exactly happened back in 1861 that altered the course of history forever.