Posted on 04/01/2006 2:45:57 PM PST by YourAdHere
Any freepers seen this movie, or even heard of it? It's playing in very limited run, mostly arthouse type theatres.
The premise of the movie is quite good. It's a documentary of American history over the last 150 years. The twist is that it takes place in an alternate reality where the South won the Civil War. We see all the relevant events of the 20th century, but with a southern slant. And the documentary is sprinkled with commercials for products like the "Shackle" to keep your property in line, and the television sit-com "Leave it to Beulah."
Now, I saw it at an arthouse in Bethesda, Maryland, but you wouldn't know it was playing there from the marquee. They don't have any posters for it outside. It's even worse inside the building, as they did not put a poster up outside the auditorium it was showing in.
If you look at the poster, you'll understand why. It's a shot of Neal Armstrong walking on the moon, but instead of the American flag, he's planting a postage-stamp-sized version of the confederate flag. So in a bout of political correctness, the theatre opted not to display their own movie.
If you like alternate reality stories, this is a pretty good movie. They create archival footage of Lincoln before his death in 1905 after escaping to Canada via Harriet Tubman's underground railroad.
The movie's social value is that it redefines the fact that it was republicans who were in favor of abolition, and it tries to show how the democrats never did a thing to help the slaves.
Sounds mildly entertaining. If it's ever released on DVD I'll rent it.
I remember that episode. Back in the good old days before they killed off Arturo. "Sliders" had such great potential.
--more--
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389828/
"Sliders" had such great potential."
Yeah, then Jerry What's-his-name brought his brother on board and it went downhill with each episode.
I love being a nitpicker.
Ugh! That O'Connell who was "The Bachelor." Boy, his career took a real "slide."
If you go to the website you linked, the flash shows blue states overtaken by red all over. It's allegory for what would happen if those evil republicans had "what they really want". Considering it's a Spike Llee film, you can be certain it's racist...against anything white anyway.
Yeah, they did that in the movie too. It's funny because this movie isn't embraced by anyone. On the one hand, it can be seen as an attack against the red states. On the other hand, blue states don't want to have anything to do with this movie, as evidenced by the lack of publicity for it. If you put all politics aside, it can be a dramatic, sci-fi-ish comedy documentary. I would think that after Farenheit 9/11, the public would embrace more fake documentaries. : )
"within a generation or so..."
A generation or so is a long time to wait...when you're a slave.
It isn't based on the novels by Harry Turtledove, is it? He did a whole series...the Civil War not ending the bloodshed on American soil but leading to war after war as in Europe. There was one where an embittered Confederate soldier becomes an American Hitler.
Mrs VS
It's a rather drastic left turn to get to where he did, which is Lee succeeding Jefferson Davis in an independent CSA after defeating Nathan Bedford Forest in the presidential election. Lee (who really had freed all of his slaves before the war) had decided that the South couldn't wait for a violent end to slavery, which he concluded was inevitable, and was set on a gradual elemination (with compensation) over a couple of decades. That led to a break with the men from the future and a violent conclusion.
It was interesting enough and well researched enough that Shelby Foote, the late Civil War historian, wrote the forward for it. The idea itself was worth another look, with a less drastic left turn this time. That would be the series you are referring to. In that set of books he used a simple change in history, a set of plans lost by a Confederate general which in reality fell into the hands of the Union, is instead retrieved by a rebel soldier. He takes off from that change and imagines a whole series of stories all the way up at least through mid 20th century, with North and South competing at everything, such as who will reach the Pacific with a railroad first. Interesting premise, but not as satisfying a conclusion as the single volume of Guns of The South.
WBTS. I'm gonna adopt that acronym.
Nah, not based on Turtledove. I can see why you'd say that though. That's a series I've been meaning to read myself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.