Sherman's March

Rating:
Summary: This hilarious documentary film catalogs women
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A documentary exploration of Southern mating rituals
Review: Ostensibly Ross McElwee went South to make a documentary tracing the path of General William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive march across Georgia during the Civil War. But McElwee is distracted by his recurring dreams of nuclear holocaust (and Burt Reynolds) and so instead of ruined plantations or other such reminders of the Union general's scorched earth policy, McElwee turned his camera on the Southern women he encountered. This 1987 documentary's subtitle gives us a much better indication of this film's focus: "A Mediation on the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation." Whatever its humble origins, "Sherman's March" is a fascinating examination of contemporary mating rituals in the South. Without much apparent effort on his part, McElwee encounters a collection of fascinating characters with some unforgettable stories that are superior to what you find in most "real" films. Once again we realize that basically everybody has at least one good story to tell, a point realized by CBS news which currently has an ongoing human interest series where the reporter picks a name at random from a phone book and then heads off to find out what story that person has to tell. McElwee's documentary proves you cannot go wrong doing so. This film also gives much hope to every gawkish young man who can get his hands on a camera as a way of meeting young women.

Rating:
Summary: A documentary exploration of Southern mating rituals
Review: Ostensibly Ross McElwee went South to make a documentary tracing the path of General William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive march across Georgia during the Civil War. But McElwee is distracted by his recurring dreams of nuclear holocaust (and Burt Reynolds) and so instead of ruined plantations or other such reminders of the Union general's scorched earth policy, McElwee turned his camera on the Southern women he encountered. This 1987 documentary's subtitle gives us a much better indication of this film's focus: "A Mediation on the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation." Whatever its humble origins, "Sherman's March" is a fascinating examination of contemporary mating rituals in the South. Without much apparent effort on his part, McElwee encounters a collection of fascinating characters with some unforgettable stories that are superior to what you find in most "real" films. Once again we realize that basically everybody has at least one good story to tell, a point realized by CBS news which currently has an ongoing human interest series where the reporter picks a name at random from a phone book and then heads off to find out what story that person has to tell. McElwee's documentary proves you cannot go wrong doing so. This film also gives much hope to every gawkish young man who can get his hands on a camera as a way of meeting young women.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie for anybody interested in the modern South
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: GROUNDBREAKING FILM
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent surprise
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent surprise
Review: 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.