Sherman's March

“Well, you never solve everything, Ross. You never solve everything. The only thing you've got is a chance for a few passionate hits. You see how foolish it all is. You see what the army comes to. The bunkers, the island, the burned-out house. Hell, it's all a tragedy. It's just a matter of how you get through it. And the most interesting way to get through it is to say, "I can't help it. I'm full of passion and I'm gonna die this moment." It's the only way to pretend you're alive. It's the only way to not be alone and depressed.”

Not knowing what to expect, after watching this film I was taken by idea that it was initially supposed to become a documentary about William Tecumseh Sherman’s march through and complete destruction of the South, but instead becomes something entirely different. McElwee dives into his and other’s personal emotions and takes us with him on his journey to replace the love he once had but lost. In an effort to recount the story of the general, we notice that McElwee in fact has some things in common with him. For one thing, they both embarked on their journey depressed and with a sense of failure. Both felt like they didn’t really belong. I find it interesting how Charleen encourages him to break away from this broken state of mind and be more passionate about things. “This place is like a tomb. No, it's not. It's like pubic hair. Part, part the bushes. Go into the place. Go with it, Ross. It's not like a tomb. That's the trouble with you. You don't know the difference between sex and death. Sex and death? Yes, and death. This is life, this isn't death. When it sits on your face, you can't tell which it is.” In this part of the film, although funny and bizarre, Charleen makes a good point.

On another note, women were important after the destruction of the South because most of the men were either wounded or dead. They are obviously a vital essence to the entire film and the women that McElwee encounters all seem to have something wrong or weird about them, it feels. It is as if he is wandering through the broken South that Sherman left behind in search for love, expecting to find someone sane enough to fit his expectations. They are either in love with an abusive boyfriend or are a bit ‘mentally strange’ themselves. The film does show us the culture and uniqueness of the South and for that I think it is pure gold. The camera captures genuine emotions and conversations that I don’t think I’ve seen much of in other films.

What role do the women play throughout the film?

(Besides McElwee's search for love) 

America of the '30s

“It reminds you a little bit of the America of the ’30s, people up here don’t realize that.”

I agree with some of my classmates when they say that at some point in this documentary, it seemed a bit pointless. But as it went on, I got the sense that McElwee was actually acting as a modern stand in for Sherman, traveling from city to city, observing different forms of southern culture in each place. The part that stuck out to me the most was when he meets Claudia, and she introduces him to her band of extreme survivalists who, if anything show that McEllwee himself isn’t nearly as strange as we thought. I saw a few of the characteristics that we used to describe the south on the first day of class in this little isolated settlement. Family is the dominant factor in this environment, reminding us a little of little house on the prairie. They are free from all regulation from the U.S. allowing them to shoot their guns whenever and wherever they like, manufacture their own alcohol whenever they want to drink it, and remain and isolated and have that sense of unity amongst their small settlement by keeping anybody they don’t want in with them out. This settlement relied on the bible for their information on the nuclear holocaust and the apocalypse, going back to the idea that the south is highly religious. I couldn’t help but laugh when one of the men was pleading to the federal government that they had better leave them alone, all while chewing on his Red Man tobacco in the woods, if that doesn’t exemplify southern stereotypes I don’t know what else does. The quote says it reminds them of America of the ‘30s, and to me it did, showing us that idea of the South never quite progressing with the rest of the U.S., still believing that at any time Nuclear Warfare was going to end civilization, an idea that had pretty much died out throughout the country some years back. This settlement, for better or worse, is to me what the south is. Although it is a different form of living than many of us are used to, these people know who they are, what the want, and are proud that the south is part of their identity.

Question: Did all of the cities seem like they were still in regression, favoring the pre-Sherman forms of themselves?

McElwee: Sherman's March

I also found myself having a hard time following this documentary. However, once the film started going, I was overwhelmed with the different personalities and perspectives he encountered along the way. I was surprised that McElwee was able to capture such intimate feelings through his eccentric appreciation for the details in life. Although the original purpose for his film was to look at the impact of the destructive march made by Union troops under General William T. Sherman, McElwee is able to present different Southern cultures and beliefs through the filming of different women. Despite the apparent forward motion of society that McElwee was displaying, there was a portion of the movie that caught my attention on the subject of Southern stereotypes: Pat is talking to her friend about her audition and how her roles were very limited due to her Southern accent. There was such an acceptance seen in her demeanor, that it was kind of hard to see how much of her culture still identifies her and limits her opportunities. She has big modern aspirations, but she is ultimately unable to pull away from her Southerness.

How much of this journey really compared with the actual Sherman's March?

Sherman's Search

Okay I don't remember the exact quote but it goes something like, "The crowd could tell the cavalry's legs from the infantry's legs because the infantry's calves were bigger." It is one of the rare scenes that McElwee (almost said Ross) actually discusses Sherman's battles and how gory it was with soldier's random dismember body parts laying all over the battle field.

First, let me say that this documentary was awesome. At times I wondered if he had planned this all out and he knew all along that he was going to go on a 'love' search but claim it was suppose to be about Sherman.

One reason I believe this documentary worked as well as it did was because there was such a dichotomy of themes. For a good bulk of the movie McElwee chases around five or six southern girls attempting to find love, but then there are these historical and at times violent scenes, such as above, interwoven within the love story (not to mention the random nuclear war dreams). Because of this I am still baffled as to what the exact point of this movie is, but I have a theory.

My theory is that McElwee wanted to document Sherman's love for the South versus his destruction of the South. McElwee frequently mentions that Sherman loved the south, he painted portraits of it's landscape, wrote letters to his friends up North about it's beauty, and even gave reasonable terms of surrender for the Confederate army. These reasonable terms caused people in the north to rebuke him, thus he was not at home in the North or the South. McElwee parallels Sherman. Both suffered for insomnia, fits of depression, and a sense of not belonging. So when McElwee's heart is broken by Anna he decides to leave off this path of destruction and focus on love.

Question: What do you think the point of this documentary is?

Sherman's Watch

I really don't know where to start with this post. The film was... interesting to say the least. It had ridiculously awkward one liners, my favorite one was "A sort of creeping psycho-sexual despair came over me." The odd form of this documentary made it hard to watch/analyse. At first I thought the documentary was pointless, just one attempt to find a girlfriend after another. However, after a while I began to notice just how political the piece was. It was political, not in it's observation of Sherman's South, but more in an observation of different southern cultures. We first McElwee family who appear to be more traditionally southern, each encounter we see after this one shows a different way of living in the South. Many of the people he comes into to contact with are more radical than I imagined the South in the 80's. For example, the Crusoeian islanders, or his protester ex -girlfriend. At the same time we see traditionalist view points on marriage, and government. Is this documentary a good representation of the South, or does his choice of interviews create a false southern image?

Turn the Damn Camera Off!

"Why don't you, for this first listening to DeeDee, forget the fucking film and listen to DeeDee.  This is your wife!  This is your betrothed!"  (1:38:34)

This quote, made by McElwee's friend/former teacher, Charlene, perfectly sums up my feelings towards our "lovesick" protagonist.  Every time he meets a new girl or pursues an old girlfriend, he has this camera on and asks them twenty questions.  And then he goes off and feels sorry for himself when they turn him down.  I don't know what everyone else thought, but I believed that all of these women were turning him down BECAUSE he had a camera constantly on them while they were together.

Perhaps these women felt, as they were talking to him, as if they were subjects in a creepy experiment as opposed to girls being flirted with by a generally nice guy.  If I were talking to a girl who had an interest in me, but would NOT STOP FILMING ME, I'd get out of there as quickly as I could.

It seems to me as if Ross McElwee, would have been luckier had he actually looked upon these women as actual women as opposed to possible objects to give his life meaning.  I just could not stop wondering why, when he felt connections with some of these women (no matter how oddball some of them may seem), he kept his camera on.  It was as if he was always looking at them through an audience's POV as opposed to his own, and that kept him emotionally separated from them.

I also want to know what the people who gave him the grant to make this film thought when they saw the finished product.  They gave McElwee a lot of money for the purpose of making a documentary on General Sherman's actual march.  Not a self-indulgent, metaphorical march through the South which supposedly parallels Sherman's.  Granted, it did go on to become acclaimed and win awards, but you have to wonder how they reacted.

Question: Do you believe that he would have had more luck with these women had he had his camera turned off?  Do you believe that he was generally in love with them, or that he looked upon them as objects in a search for the meaning of his life?