"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" brought in nearly $800 million worldwide. "Spider-Man 2" netted more than $780 million, and "The Incredibles" tallied more than $631 million.
Other box office hits were "The Passion of the Christ," "Meet the Fockers" and "Ocean's Twelve."
And there were other, critically acclaimed films that didn't bring in the really big money, like "Million Dollar Baby," "Ray," "The Aviator," "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Sideways," as well as just plain popular, entertaining films that performed respectably well at the box office.
With all that going on, it's understandable if some worthwhile films slipped under your radar.
One such film may have been "C.S.A.: Confederate States of America," a "mockumentary" about an alternate reality, in which the South won the battle of Gettysburg and went on to win the Civil War.Four years ago, "C.S.A." slipped under my radar, but I was fortunate enough to catch it in a somewhat rare broadcast on IFC, the company that acquired the rights to the film after its disappointing initial theatrical run.
The story is told from the perspective of a foreign documentary filmmaker (apparently modeled after the BBC). It is presented as a domestic broadcast of the documentary, which apparently has generated a great deal of talk in the "CSA" but has been blocked for a couple of years over differing interpretations of events and policies and is aired with disclaimers.
In a satirical — and sometimes disturbing — way, the film examines what North America might have been like if the South had defeated the North.
In this alternate reality, slavery and cotton make the South an economic power. Abraham Lincoln becomes a fugitive after the war ends — and ultimately lives four decades longer than he actually did.
In the 20th century, the South forms an alliance with Hitler and the Nazis but rejects the "final solution," opting to enslave vanquished ethnic groups and prosper from their labor instead of destroying them.
Punctuating the story are commercial breaks, featuring parodies of actual commercials for products and services that had racist implications.
The film's writer/director, Kevin Wilmott, is a black man who teaches film at the University of Kansas. Nearly two dozen of his students contributed, in one form or another, to the production of the film — some on camera, others behind the scenes.
The film struggled at the box office during its initial run, then the rights were acquired by the Independent Film Channel and Spike Lee assumed the role of executive producer.
IFC doesn't seem to show "C.S.A." very often, but IFC will show it four times this month, starting this Friday at 8 p.m. (Central). I recommend it as one of the most inventive films I've seen in a long time.
It is also scheduled to be shown
- Monday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. (Central),
- Saturday, Oct. 25 at 9:45 p.m. (Central) and
- Sunday, Oct. 26 at 3 a.m. (Central).
