retro movie review: Sherman's March
In 1864, Civil War General William Tecumsah Sherman led Union troops in a march from Atlanta to Savannah, destroying everything in their path. Sherman's March is so infamous for its brutality that over a century later, southerners hundreds of miles from where Sherman ever set foot claim to still be recovering from the devestation.
In 1981, freelance documentarian Ross McElwee is assigned the task of producing a documentary on Sherman's March, an opportunity he jumps at, since it gives him an excuse to re-connect with friends and relatives in the area. However, just before filming is to begin, his girlfriend leaves him. He is devestated, although the fact that he lived in Boston and she lived in New York should have given him a clue that something had to give. Nevertheless, when Ross sets out on his journey to document Sherman's March, he is so distracted by this turn of events that his documentary radically shifts focus, becoming an exploration of his own pitiful love life.
This is the concept behind Sherman's March, Ross McElwee's award-winning portrait of southern women. As Ross sets out on his journey, ostensibly to make his documentary on Sherman's March, his mother, sister, and multitude of platonic friends (all of his friends in the movie are women; one male friend is briefly mentioned towards the beginning, but he is never seen, and quickly forgotten in the larger narrative) rally around to give him unasked-for, unsuccessful, and often unwelcome "help" in finding a woman.
Ross is clueless when it comes to women. One girl, for example, flirts with him shamelessly, and it isn't until hours later that he starts to wonder if her comment that she isn't wearing underwear was a come-on. He blows his chances with her, but she is such a carefree spirit that it takes him forever to realize it. He hangs around for weeks, shifting the focus of his documentary to her fledgling acting career, becoming emotionally involved in her own professional hopes, all the while oblivious to the fact that she has no romantic interest in him whatsoever.
Watching this movie, I couldn't help but wonder, "how can he not realize that she is completely uninterested in him?" She goes on and on about how she's got a crush on Burt Reynolds, and long after the viewer realizes that she actually believes in her fantasy about Reynolds, McElwee keeps filming, apparently under the impression that, by filming her diatribe about her fictional love affair with Reynolds, he is merely humoring her; what he doesn't realize is that, like so many women in this film, she is the one humoring him just by letting him hang around; the women Ross dates (or tries to date) in Sherman's March don't keep him around out of affection, they do so out of a tolerance that stems only from a detached amusement.
Meanwhile, both during and after Ross's non-relationship with the would-be actress/screenwriter (whose screenplay idea is so astoundingly insane and narcissistic that it should have given him a clue that she was a lost cause), the women in Ross's life continue to try, in vain, to help his floundering love life: They set him up on dates, they make stabs at life-coaching, and they offer him romantic advice that is alternately foolish, wise, ludicrous, and just plain inappropriate for their target audience; for all their affection for Ross McEwlee, it becomes clear through their unhelpful advice that a lot of these women don't seem to know much about what kind of women would suit his personality. In a reverse of stereotypical attitudes toward romance, Ross seems in search of a soul-mate, while the only criteria for the women trying to help him is that his significant other be A) attractive and B) available. Ross's mother is particularly eager to set him up with a woman, any woman, partially out of love for her son, but mostly, as she explains to a wearied Ross, because she finds his singleness "boring." "Do you like her?" she asks about one random female passerby. "If you do, mommy will buy her for you." She is joking. Sort of.
Ross's mother is easily the most interesting and likable character in the movie, and her monologues on the necessity of passion -- in dating and in life in general -- are both hilarious and profound. At the center of all of these women -- dates, friends, relatives, girlfriends, and ex-girlfriends -- is Ross himself, who remains ever clueless about romance. How clueless? At one point, he tries to reunite with an old girlfriend and remains undeterred when she reveals that she is now living with another man, and if Ross is to stay as a house guest, he has to sleep in the tree-house out back. The tree-house, she explains, is infested with fleas, mosquitoes, spiders, ticks, and a type of insect terrifyingly described as a "cone-nosed blood-sucker." Ross gripes to the camera about the physical discomfort and about his fear of the cone-nosed blood-suckers, but still agrees to spend the night.
Occasionally, Ross remembers that he's supposed to be making a documentary on Sherman's March, and includes a scene involving the historical event. Not often, but occasionally. He seems in denial that, just like his love life, his film project has fallen off the rails a long time ago.
Sherman's March is, without argument, a challenge to viewers. If you're not in the right mood to watch something like this, even a patient viewer will quickly get bored with McElwee's film. The pace is maddeningly slow, and McElwee's narration, delivered in a melancholy monotone, doesn't exactly help to make the film any less dull. I can't help but speculate that if this wasn't a documentary, but rather a Hollywood narrative, would it be a better movie? Surely the comedy potential is there, although viewers might dismiss the real-life characters as unrealistic (the actress's description of her screenplay, for example, really has to be heard first-hand for one to believe that anyone would come up with such an insane idea). But if you have the patience and time to sit down and watch a movie that is actually about real people -- not the arrogant, famous-for-being-famous "celebrities" on modern "reality TV," but ordinary people you might actually meet in your daily life, then Sherman's March is a fascinating and sometimes hilarious "slice of life" treat. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the pace.
In 1981, freelance documentarian Ross McElwee is assigned the task of producing a documentary on Sherman's March, an opportunity he jumps at, since it gives him an excuse to re-connect with friends and relatives in the area. However, just before filming is to begin, his girlfriend leaves him. He is devestated, although the fact that he lived in Boston and she lived in New York should have given him a clue that something had to give. Nevertheless, when Ross sets out on his journey to document Sherman's March, he is so distracted by this turn of events that his documentary radically shifts focus, becoming an exploration of his own pitiful love life.
This is the concept behind Sherman's March, Ross McElwee's award-winning portrait of southern women. As Ross sets out on his journey, ostensibly to make his documentary on Sherman's March, his mother, sister, and multitude of platonic friends (all of his friends in the movie are women; one male friend is briefly mentioned towards the beginning, but he is never seen, and quickly forgotten in the larger narrative) rally around to give him unasked-for, unsuccessful, and often unwelcome "help" in finding a woman.
Ross is clueless when it comes to women. One girl, for example, flirts with him shamelessly, and it isn't until hours later that he starts to wonder if her comment that she isn't wearing underwear was a come-on. He blows his chances with her, but she is such a carefree spirit that it takes him forever to realize it. He hangs around for weeks, shifting the focus of his documentary to her fledgling acting career, becoming emotionally involved in her own professional hopes, all the while oblivious to the fact that she has no romantic interest in him whatsoever.
Watching this movie, I couldn't help but wonder, "how can he not realize that she is completely uninterested in him?" She goes on and on about how she's got a crush on Burt Reynolds, and long after the viewer realizes that she actually believes in her fantasy about Reynolds, McElwee keeps filming, apparently under the impression that, by filming her diatribe about her fictional love affair with Reynolds, he is merely humoring her; what he doesn't realize is that, like so many women in this film, she is the one humoring him just by letting him hang around; the women Ross dates (or tries to date) in Sherman's March don't keep him around out of affection, they do so out of a tolerance that stems only from a detached amusement.
Meanwhile, both during and after Ross's non-relationship with the would-be actress/screenwriter (whose screenplay idea is so astoundingly insane and narcissistic that it should have given him a clue that she was a lost cause), the women in Ross's life continue to try, in vain, to help his floundering love life: They set him up on dates, they make stabs at life-coaching, and they offer him romantic advice that is alternately foolish, wise, ludicrous, and just plain inappropriate for their target audience; for all their affection for Ross McEwlee, it becomes clear through their unhelpful advice that a lot of these women don't seem to know much about what kind of women would suit his personality. In a reverse of stereotypical attitudes toward romance, Ross seems in search of a soul-mate, while the only criteria for the women trying to help him is that his significant other be A) attractive and B) available. Ross's mother is particularly eager to set him up with a woman, any woman, partially out of love for her son, but mostly, as she explains to a wearied Ross, because she finds his singleness "boring." "Do you like her?" she asks about one random female passerby. "If you do, mommy will buy her for you." She is joking. Sort of.
Ross's mother is easily the most interesting and likable character in the movie, and her monologues on the necessity of passion -- in dating and in life in general -- are both hilarious and profound. At the center of all of these women -- dates, friends, relatives, girlfriends, and ex-girlfriends -- is Ross himself, who remains ever clueless about romance. How clueless? At one point, he tries to reunite with an old girlfriend and remains undeterred when she reveals that she is now living with another man, and if Ross is to stay as a house guest, he has to sleep in the tree-house out back. The tree-house, she explains, is infested with fleas, mosquitoes, spiders, ticks, and a type of insect terrifyingly described as a "cone-nosed blood-sucker." Ross gripes to the camera about the physical discomfort and about his fear of the cone-nosed blood-suckers, but still agrees to spend the night.
Occasionally, Ross remembers that he's supposed to be making a documentary on Sherman's March, and includes a scene involving the historical event. Not often, but occasionally. He seems in denial that, just like his love life, his film project has fallen off the rails a long time ago.
Sherman's March is, without argument, a challenge to viewers. If you're not in the right mood to watch something like this, even a patient viewer will quickly get bored with McElwee's film. The pace is maddeningly slow, and McElwee's narration, delivered in a melancholy monotone, doesn't exactly help to make the film any less dull. I can't help but speculate that if this wasn't a documentary, but rather a Hollywood narrative, would it be a better movie? Surely the comedy potential is there, although viewers might dismiss the real-life characters as unrealistic (the actress's description of her screenplay, for example, really has to be heard first-hand for one to believe that anyone would come up with such an insane idea). But if you have the patience and time to sit down and watch a movie that is actually about real people -- not the arrogant, famous-for-being-famous "celebrities" on modern "reality TV," but ordinary people you might actually meet in your daily life, then Sherman's March is a fascinating and sometimes hilarious "slice of life" treat. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the pace.
posted by Movie Man at
1:23 PM
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