Film Forum

Ross McElwee’s SHERMAN’S MARCH

Ross McElwee · 1986 · U.S. · 158 min

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Armed with a 16mm camera and a grant to make a documentary about the lingering aftermath of William Tecumseh Sherman’s 1864 march to the sea, Ross McElwee gets sidetracked. After his girlfriend breaks up with him, Ross shifts his attention from the historical to the personal, to the battlefield of modern love, and embarks on a sociological chronicle that documents the courting rites and rituals of the New South. A generous and humanistic portrait of several remarkable women that Ross meets along the way, Sherman’s March sketches its characters with novelistic sensitivity: Pat, an aspiring actress with a yen for Burt Reynolds; Claudia, a roller-skating interior designer; Jackie, the activist whose anti-nuclear advocacy dovetails with Ross’s deepest fears; and above all, Charleen Swansea, Ross’s mentor and a one-woman Greek chorus of unsolicited romantic counsel. A landmark of first-person filmmaking that presaged everything from Michael Moore to reality TV. A Little Field Films Restoration with support from Cinema Conservancy, Harvard Film Archive, and The Library of Congress. Restoration Produced by Mark Meatto. Restoration Supervised by Ross McElwee. A MUSIC BOX FILMS RELEASE Open Caption (OC) Screenings Tuesday, July 21, 7:00 show Saturday, July 25, 3:20 show Sunday, July 26, 3:20 show Monday, July 27, 6:40 show Tuesday, July 28, 3:20 show