The Battle of Pussy Willow Creek (FILM REVIEW)
The Battle of Pussy Willow
Creek
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Civil War Mockumentary Spoofs Ken Burns
Production
Over
the years, Ken Burns has shot numerous historical documentaries covering such
slices of Americana
as Baseball as The Civil War. The latter is the subject of satire in this
irreverent mockumentary mimicking the tone of the Emmy Award-winning director’s
typical production.
The
plot revolves around The Battle
of Pussy Willow Creek, a mythical engagement said to have turned the tide in
favor of the North. The film focuses on the roles played by four unlikely
heroes that fateful day: a gay colonel (Matthew
Ludwinski), a nerdy fugitive slave (Barron A. Myers), a geriatric Chinese launderer
(Scooter MacRae) and a one-armed prostitute passing as a drummer boy (Mara
Kassin).
Ala
Burns, the picture features a profusion of talking heads, self-impressed experts
who wax romantic while weighing-in about what transpired 150 years ago. Unfortunately,
this one-trick pony isn’t very funny, as its running joke wears out its welcome
after a half-hour or so.
It
might have helped if the flick had a deeper message to deliver beyond one advocating
inclusion regardless of age, gender, color or sexual preference. By comparison,
the similarly-themed C.S.A. (The Confederate States of America) was a
spoof which proved far more thought-provoking because it created an alternate
universe where slavery still existed because the South won the war.
Even
though the overambitious The Battle
of Pussy Willow Creek misses the mark,
first-time writer/director Wendy Jo Cohen exhibits sufficient potential to make
me curious about her next venture. What’s next, a Glee-inspired, musical lampoon of World War II
with black GIs serving alongside openly-gay GIs in an already integrated
military?
Fair (1 star)
Unrated
Running time: 96 minutes
Distributor: Wide Sphere
Films
To see a trailer for The Battle of Pussy Willow Creek,
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