Ross McElwee has received funding for a documentary tracing the path of Sherman’s March to the sea and exploring the modern ramifications his destruction has had on the targeted southern towns. Before he begins filming however, his girlfriend leaves him and the completion of his planned documentary is doomed. Instead of following the stated premise of his film, the director instead falls into a depression and finds himself hopelessly and aimlessly in love with various women he meets on his trip.
Sherman’s March is a disarmingly honest documentary from 1986 which I first heard about on the April second episode of Filmspotting. I found the description to be intriguing and was excited when I found out that the film was viewable on Netflix Watch Instantly. Upon viewing it, I found it both difficult and hypnotically watchable.
Frankly, I can relate to the desperate need for meaningful human connection which Ross McElwee is experiencing on film. I think that everyone has been there at some point in his or her life and many of us find a tool for dealing with it. McElwee uses his camera as a shield. He unflinchingly films every uncomfortable conversation he has and overdubs the silent moments with his constant inner-monologue.
The film is both depressing and darkly humorous. McElwee films the beginning, middle and ending to each fleeting relationship he finds himself in on his journey. They begin to take on a mechanical coldness as romance is replaced with repetition.The viewer is able to sympathize both with the narrator (McElwee) and the subjects who entreat him to turn off the camera during personal conversations.
The choice to focus entirely on hand-held, first-person camera work is an aesthetic which, while having its’ benefits, can be frustrating. The viewer is frequently unable to clearly see what is going on and they are often subjected to extreme close-ups on the faces of the women whom the director is interested in. It is also somewhat off-putting to never see the facial or physical reactions that the narrator of the film is having to his subjects. It goes without saying that a simple change of cinematography would have created an entirely different film and I am undecided as to whether or not it would be better.
I am not sure if you will like this film. While I cannot say it was necessarily entertaining by normal standards, I did find it fairly fascinating and was engaged throughout the 2.5 hour run time. It is hard, as a viewer to shake the sense that you are watching the film equivalent of a student writing an essay describing their inability to write an essay (an exercise I have participated in many times throughout my schooling). If you have Netflix Watch Instantly and the concept sounds appealing, it can’t hurt to give it a look.
