This film clearly cares more about grinding its own political ax than seriously examining what would have happened if the South had won. Thus, I believe the film should be judged as the political satire it's intended to be rather than as a serious attempt at Alternate History. The narrative starts off as interesting, if unlikely, but then it begins getting silly. The C.S.A. forces the northern states to adopt slavery, makes Christianity the state religion, perpetrates an imperialistic conquest of Central and South America, befriends Hitler, and denies women the vote. At a certain point, the C.S.A. starts to seem like it's evil for the sake of being evil. Yes, I know they had A Point to make, but there's a line between caricature and cartoonish villainy. Still, it's an interesting project and the Retraux bits and the Parody Commercials are great touches which help build a sense that this parallel world could be real. The film did leave me feeling kind of disturbed, which I think was the intent, so I guess it's ultimately a success.
Interesting, but kind of ridiculous
This film clearly cares more about grinding its own political ax than seriously examining what would have happened if the South had won. Thus, I believe the film should be judged as the political satire it's intended to be rather than as a serious attempt at Alternate History. The narrative starts off as interesting, if unlikely, but then it begins getting silly. The C.S.A. forces the northern states to adopt slavery, makes Christianity the state religion, perpetrates an imperialistic conquest of Central and South America, befriends Hitler, and denies women the vote. At a certain point, the C.S.A. starts to seem like it's evil for the sake of being evil. Yes, I know they had A Point to make, but there's a line between caricature and cartoonish villainy. Still, it's an interesting project and the Retraux bits and the Parody Commercials are great touches which help build a sense that this parallel world could be real. The film did leave me feeling kind of disturbed, which I think was the intent, so I guess it's ultimately a success.