C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America
The film opens with a quote from George Bernard Shaw, “”If you’re going to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh; otherwise they’ll kill you.” Suffice it to say, the “British Broadcasting Service”-produced documentary begins with a television commercial for a fictitious company, Confederate Insurance. Trust me, when the camera pans over to the African-American raking leaves as the voice-over talks about “property,” it’s okay…
There are films of substance, and then there are films that give the illusion of substance. “Inside Man” is the latter. Whenever a film begins with the principal actor staring into a camera prefacing the story, immediately my bullshit detector screams, “RED ALERT! RED ALERT!” In this case, the bullshit begins with Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) telling us, “Pay close attention to what I say.” This is, of course, a way of telling us that the payoff…