I had to bail out of Confederate States of America after a half hour of viewing.
Instead of taking a single counterfactual and working with it, the movie piled on one counterfactual after another, leaving me reeling. The Rebels defeat the Union armies. Then they conquer and annex the North. Then they capture Lincoln. Then they force Canada to repatriate runaways.
That's when I tuned out. Get on with your story man! How the hell much alternative do you need to set the stage?
Was this about understanding a slave society of the 19th Century or about the morbid fantasy of 21st Century slavery? If the latter, why do we need all this counterfactual?
The mockery made of Ken Burns/PBS documentary style kept me engaged for awhile and I thought Willmott handled the bona fide historical material pretty well. The humor was not heavy handed but the compounding alternatives were overwhelming.
Kevin Willmott should collaborate with Harry Turtledove. Harry has proved there is a market for out-of-control alternative history.
