Sherman's March (1986)

            With camera perched on shoulder, Ross McElwee set out to retrace and document Sherman’s infamous March to the Sea.  Yet shortly before beginning his expedition he found himself suddenly single and at a loss for such a status.  The documentary that grew must be far from the historical reconstruction McElwee envisioned and is undoubtedly far more interesting.

            The journey, instead of navigating a trail of destruction, navigates a trail of destruction and reconstruction as the director encounters past loves and recent infatuations.  Perhaps his thin physique and heavily bearded face make him ample target for being set up.  Or perhaps his deflective camera, which allows him to maintain a distance between himself and the social world, is read by those around him as such.  Either way, McElwee falls subject to numerous experiments with good-looking southern girls whom he is at times expected, at other times demanded, to woo and wed and propagate. 

            The personal exploration of love lost and found is inherently emotional as McElwee tries to reason for missed chances and uncertain futures.  The onscreen dialogue accompanied by voice over narration predates YouTube confessionals by more than a decade and succeeds far more than any superficial v-log.  It is hard not to feel bad for the socially precarious filmmaker yet his tone is never self-deprecating, self-pitying, or self-effacing. 

            The final product is testament to the uncertain nature of non-fictional storytelling.  The filmmaker as subject has certainly been seen, yet McElwee’s 1986 entry comes off as the most sincere and cathartic.  His interactions maintain a sense of observation and confusion.  His narration emphasizes the thoughts in

his head that manifest themselves on-screen.  Any uncertainty and longing, curiosity and affection McElwee feels for the women he meets is immediately shared with the audience, and felt by them just the same.

            We learn very little about Sherman’s March to the Sea save for the few candid conversations with subjects that the director has while explicating the content of his film.  And while it may not have been obvious while filming, it is obvious while watching just where the piece was headed in the first place.  It is even a relief that the two and a half hours are not mundane re-teachings of historical events.  We learn much more about human nature with each two and three minute highly personal conversation with the people trying to run McElwee’s life than we would with one hundred and fifty minutes of archival material.

            Sherman’s March seems to predict that current trend of putting the filmmaker as subject.  It also captures the human subject, its improvisations and need to know, with careful and uneasy affliction.  It is profoundly interesting and one of the most lastingly thought-provoking documentaries I have seen.