C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America
IFC Films | Release Date: February 15, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
11
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A brilliant and irresistible counterfactual overview of American history. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It's a fearless and brilliant racial-historical satire, done in a meticulous re-creation of the Ken Burns mode, that chronicles the last 150 years of America as if the South had won the Civil War. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
For the most part, Willmott succeeds thrillingly. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Provocative, deeply unsettling mockumentary. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
C.S.A. has a love-it-or-hate-it bite that probably will lead to a few passionate post-screening discussions. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The movie is ultimately more interesting in satire than the presentation of a legitimate alternate timeline. This doesn’t invalidate C.S.A.’s approach but it limits its effectiveness as a sort of Twilight Zone look at the last 150 years. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
As a coherent, well-judged alternative history, the movie's a mess. As a thought-provoking and frequently hilarious jeremiad, it scores again and again. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Not since Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" has such an irreverent carnival of African American stereotypes been so irreverently sent up. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
CSA is rough around the edges, especially where the acting and some of the film's invented characters are concerned. But the way CSA works out its ideas is so provoking that its drawbacks are not difficult to ignore. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
With surprisingly good production values and sly, underhanded wit, Willmott never tips his hand, steadily guiding the satire to a genuinely stunning, back-to-reality conclusion. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
CSA would have benefited from a bigger budget and better actors and it gets weaker as it goes along, but it's still thought-provoking stuff. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
More intriguing on paper than when it actually unspools onscreen. Kevin Willmott's small-scaled but ambitious picture is well-researched, sometimes amusing and not unintelligent. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyAdam Nayman
C.S.A. isn't subtle, but its undisguised indignation places it in the same bold polemical tradition as Peter Watkins' incendiary "Punishment Park" (1971), that nightmarish slice of speculative sci-fi about government-sanctioned manhunts for hippies and dissidents. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
Wacky, hodgepodge and decidedly homemade, CSA nevertheless is worth seeing. Sure, it veers off into nonsense, and there are times when the film loses its center. But the premise, the passion and the scathing political commentary ultimately keep CSA afloat. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'Hara
This is a clever premise stretched perhaps a little too far. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Of course, the very existence of someone like Willmott -- a black university professor who can make an angry, ruthless satire about American racism with impunity -- suggests that we're still a long way from living in the CSA. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Yes, there's something terribly familiar about this historical fantasy. As we now know, and Willmott is well aware, the South actually did win the Civil War. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Like Mr. Lee's hit-and-miss effort ("Bamboozled"), Mr. Willmott's alternative history takes its inspiration and its rage from an America that has come both a long way and not nearly far enough. But while the filmmaker's anger is palpable it's not very inspired. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
CSA is a sophomoric film essay that would have barely rated a passing grade from a tougher teacher. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
In a novel twist, the movie's dumbest element--joke commercials for racist consumer products--turns out to be the most provocative when end titles reveal the products were all real. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Less would have been more. Still, CSA has some laughs, most of them bitter. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
There are droll comic flourishes in this very brave film, to be sure, but all you really want to do after watching CSA is hang down your head and cry. Read full review
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