2006-12-12 - 10:13 a.m. We seem as a culture, lately, to have fully embraced the "mockumentary"--Borat, The Office, Death of a President, the Christopher Guest movies, Never Been Thawed, etc. I like 'em, too... Yesterday I saw one of the cleverest: Confederate States of America, about the history of the former United States after the South--aided by European allies--wins the Civil War, takes over the White House, and eventually reinstitutes slavery. The film is presented as if it were an imported British TV special, replete with commercials and station IDs that reflect a very different kind of society. The faux ads and supporting documentary clips--scenes from silent movies, voice-overs a la Ken Burns--are priceless and laugh-out-loud funny, but the approach and the plot are thoughtful, complicated, sobering. (The talking-head stuff is a little stiff, but the standard for convincing fake interviews was set very high by Death of a President). This is currently Netflixable... And if you haven't seen it yet: the best Sonic Youth cover of all time. thoughts? (9 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact