Customer Reviews

Sherman's March [VHS]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As the subtitle of this marvelous documentary (?) hints, this is a wildly improbable movie. There actually is little that one can say about the content of it, since its substance lies in its execution and collection of odd and bizarre moments, not in what it has to say. Ross McElwee obtains a grant to make a documentary about the lingering effects of Sherman's march through Georgia in the Civil War, but instead keeps getting sidetracked and obsessed by women he meets along the way. Occasionally it occurs to him that he ought to stop shooting film of the women he yearns for and start worrying about Sherman, but he never can quite force his attention in that direction. The movie may start off as a documentary on SHERMAN'S MARCH, but it morphs quite rapidly in the film's subtitle: AN IMPROBABLE SEARCH FOR LOVE.

I'm not quite sure that this film can truly be categorized as a documentary: it is more of a confessional, an exploration of the McElwee's desire for love. I think it will feel uncomfortably familiar for many of its viewers in a way that a fictional account of the search for love could never be.

This documentary was difficult to approach but well worth it. Some parts have a very voyeauristic feel to them, like reading someone else's love letters. It seems that the movie wasn't made for anyone but the filmmaker himself. The feelings he experiences are shown with a stark directness that, at first, make you uncomfortable because they come so close to things most of us have felt but will never offer up for such public consumption. His courage should be applauded.

I saw this film for the first time with my wife. Our reactions were mixed. I loved it. I was fascinated by the characters, and the by the not-so-subtle way in which the intellectual pursuits of a scholar are subordinated to his personal life and hang-ups. As an academic who is often painfully aware of the overlap between my life and my work it was refreshing to see this overlap admitted so openly -- even embraced to the point where it becomes the subject matter of the entire investigation.

My wife, on the other hand, was bothered by what she saw as Mr. McElwee's pretentiousness, and his "exploitation" of the women in the film. It is true that all of them were more or less willing participants -- and a commmon feature of each of them was that they were in some way entertainers who were interested in being seen -- still, she thought, the very fact that they revealed themselves and he could step back and observe and judge set up what she saw as an unequal situation. Having said that, she did admit that the film held an undeniable fascination for her.

As it turned out, we talked about the film on and off for the next few days, even comparing people we know and ourselves to the characters revealed there. That is, I think, one of the signs that the film was effective. In a time when most films, and certainly to my mind all of reality TV, are forgettable, this film is not. I think Mr. McElwee sets himself up to be vulnerable to the criticisms my wife suggests -- and does not shy away from them. As a character, and as narrator of his own story, he is neither hero nor villian but is a real person, and that is what makes his stories interesting.

I can't wait to see the other films he has made -- like Time Indefinite and, most recently, Bright Leaves that is currently in (selected) theatres.

I was glad to finally locate this underground classic, and it was worth the wait. While most documentaries take few risks and present talking heads, Ross McElwee dares to tell a subjective, off-the-wall story of loneliness and love, using Sherman's March to the Sea as an outline. Funny, insightful, and full of rich characterizations (except these people are the real deal), this film needs to be seen by a new generation of film lovers. Despite its 2 1/2 hour length, it is brisk and I must say, I was NEVER bored. Quite simply, a brilliant charmer.

Ignore those who don't get Ross's schtick. It's transfixing. Ross's stream of conscious commentary on his life as it unfolds in front of his camera lens has a rare clarity and simple unaffected profoundness.

The concept alone of this film is hilarious, and I think it paved the way for other personal documentaries. There's another film in the same genre called NOTHING that's also quite funny. That filmmaker has often been called a young, hip version of Ross McElwee.

Ross McElwee makes a great introspective movie about being a Southern man in search of the modern Southern woman while coping with Southern history. It's funny, it's charming, it's true - you'll love it if you've ever been interested in Southern women.

I felt as if Ross and I were filming this movie together. A must see for anyone from the south and for anyone from the north who is interested in the south.

Sherman's March (Ross McElwee, 1986)

Say all you want about equality of the sexes, but as much as we deny it, the simple fact of the matter is that when guys do things, most of the time we have one goal in mind: getting laid. Whether we know it or not. I have no idea if Ross McElwee started making Sherman's March, originally a documentary about, well, Sherman's March, with the idea of getting laid. I do know, however, that his obsession with the topic kept him from making the film he wanted to, and ended him up with this delightful, charming, irreverent look at the fairer sex, both those he finds himself in relationships with and those (most notably, of course, his mother) who try to get him into relationships. It's still a documentary, just one of an entirely different sort.

I should note from the outset that this is a movie one has to be in a certain frame of mind to appreciate; it wouldn't work at all if it were not for McElwee's sense of humor, which is both very dry and self-deprecating almost to a fault; this is not a movie to watch when one is depressed, for it will certainly not cheer you up. But despite both that and its length, which is outrageous when considered in the American frame of reference (though right up the alley of, say, Bollywood), once you've gotten interested in Sherman's March, there's no going back. You'll be staying with McElwee until the bitter end. This is one to watch. ****

more peculiar and complex than fiction could ever devise, Sherman's March gives us in the character of the filmaker a picture of gentility as charming as the South he wanders while looking for love.