Sherman's March

So I went to a screening of this documentary Sherman's March on Thursday. I had never heard of this movie, but that's not saying much because there are tons of documentaries that I haven't heard of. Such is a life spent seeing movies that have roman numerals after them, along with the occasional independant film, and a huge amount of films made before 1970.

The plot is thus: After his girlfriend leaves him, McElwee takes a voyage along the original route followed by General William Sherman -- but rather than cutting a swath of destruction designed to force the Confederate South into submission, as Sherman did, McElwee searches for love, camera in hand, “training his lens with phallic resolve on every accessible woman he meets.” The movie was shot in 1980 but not released in 1986 where it won an award at Sundance.

After watching the film, I wasn't sure if I liked it or hated it. I was split down the middle. At first this movie reminded me of that new show with Scott Baio, where he goes and talks to all his old girlfriends including Erin Moran who played Joanie on Happy Days to find out why he's still single at 45, along with seeing a life coach who's supposed to help him have a break through with his emotional issues.

Fortunately this movie was a bit deeper than whether or not Scott has emotional issues because he used to be a teen star. Ross McElwee clearly indentifies with Sherman in some way. He mentions that Sherman had been a failure before the Civil War, as was Ulysses S. Grant (nice to know the Northern Army was in the hands of men who were basically incompetent in the real world. Maybe that's why we kept losing in the early days!) He emphasizes that Sherman loved the South, and hated what he was doing.

In some ways, I wish that he had included more about Sherman in the movie, than the few tidbits that we got (although there is a hilarious scene where he's dressed up as a confederate solider for a costume party) but Sherman is just a by-product of the film. Although ostensibly he's trying to find out why he's still single, the film is a valentine to the South,and Southern women, and the way he grew up.

Confession, my mother was Southern, from Suffolk, Virginia (peanut country), although she wasn't from the Deep South. My grandparents however were from North Carolina. Legend has it that we have Cherokee and Shawnee blood, which my mother was prouder of, than being from the South. Although they moved to New York when she was five, she spent every summer down South in Virginia and she was raised by her older sisters who southern women down to their fingertips. So I've always been fascinated by the breed.

Enough about me, back to the movie. My biggest problem with this film was the length. At times it felt as long as Sherman's March to the Sea. It clocked in a whopping two and a half hours. Although most of it was fascinating, there was at least a good half hour of material that could have been cut, including all the Burt Reynolds stuff. Don't ask.

I also noticed a pattern in his relationships. He seemed to gravitate towards unattainable women, women who were madly in love with men who didn't treat them very well. That whole bad boy thing rearing its ugly head again. Ross seemed like the nice guy that we often ignore for the exciting guy who doesn't call us for two weeks after a date.

While I felt for him, there were other times when I just wanted to slap him upside the head and tell him to wake up and smell the Krispy Kremes. The only women who weren't involved were both how shall I put it, a bit on the religious side? And then there was a singer that he seemed interested in but that seemed to peter out. He just seemed to float from town to town, relationship to relationship, leaving a path of destruction (or at least a broken down car).

It was frustrating and reminded me a little too much of my Impossibly Handsome British Friend. It didn't seem as if Ross knew what he was looking for in a woman or a relationship. The film ends tantalizingly with the promise of perhaps another relationship as he takes a continuing education class in music.

My favorite character was his friend Charleen who he's actually featured in a short film which I thinking of renting to watch. She's one of those straight talking women who tell it like it is, and don't give you a chance to argue. She steamrolls over Ross in a way that was absolutely hysterical.

WTF moment of the film was the woman who claimed while the South was justified in fighting the war against Northern Aggression, slavery should have been an option. As she put it, "If you want to be a slave, be a slave." Okay, who in their right mind is going to choose being a slave over freedom? Like that's even a choice.

Anyway, if you want to see an early example of what we know take for granted in confessional movie-making, rent Sherman's March. And take a break midway through to make a sandwich or a bathroom break or to take a nap.