62
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt'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.
- 91The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayFor the most part, Willmott succeeds thrillingly.
- 88TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxProvocative, deeply unsettling mockumentary.
- 63New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickCSA 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.
- 60VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyMore 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.
- 60L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyC.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.
- 50SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirOf 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.
- 50Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanYes, 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.
- 50The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisLike 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.
- 50New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsCSA is a sophomoric film essay that would have barely rated a passing grade from a tougher teacher.