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Sherman's March
Sherman's March
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Sherman's March

Sherman's March

1986
Documentary
2h 37m
Ross McElwee sets out to make a documentary about the lingering effects of General Sherman's march of destruction through the South (imdb)

Sherman's March

1986
Documentary
2h 37m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 69.06% from 239 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(242)
Compact view
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Rated 22 Jun 2011
91
95th
Thoroughly unique. McElwee's uncomfortable attempts to woo are painful but sympathetic. I could relate to it, and also to his nuclear nightmares. Is there a connection between loneliness, fear of annihilation, and General Sherman? Probably not, but that's the great fun of this film. It goes where it wants to. There's not a single dull scene. It's a wonderful portrait of humanity as McElwee comes across one interesting character after another. A funny, original, fascinating film.
Rated 20 Apr 2013
75
56th
A (mostly) fascinating film partly from a historical perspective, partly in terms of the characters presented and partly as this strange amalgamation of fear of nuclear war, Sherman's rampage and a man grappling with his history with women.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
86
96th
A great documentary that crystallised McElwee’s cinematic style, a style that has served him well ever since.
Rated 30 Oct 2018
72
71st
what at first looks like another hippie self-help exercise turns out to be a structurally and thematically quite solid film. a snapshot of southern women / realities bringing out the hidden worlds in everyone and their roots in the past.
Rated 12 Sep 2017
88
68th
At once a brilliant personal deconstruction and a problematic piece of evidence in the argument of government funding of the humanities.
Rated 10 Feb 2017
80
85th
An unusual, engaging documentary about using the making of a documentary about General Sherman as an excuse to meet women.
Rated 08 Jun 2015
75
74th
A sprawling film held together only -- & loosely -- by the sensibility of its creator. Given how Sherman clearly functions as an analogue for McElwee, I'm a bit uncomfortable with how little McElwee is seemingly interested in the aftermath of his own campaign of romantic rampage; his is a film acutely reflexive of and interested how the camera intervenes in relationships -- but, really, it's sort of weaponized here, used to constrain & cajole & compel the self-presentations of those near him
Rated 02 Apr 2015
100
98th
Rated 21 Dec 2013
87
87th
It feels personal in both really great ways and really tedious ways, but it's so revealing and unique that I can't help but be very impressed. The opening of the film made me fear that it would be one long pity party, but while McElwee's biased perspective is undeniable he doesn't wash over his own flaws too much. The sociological undercurrents are very interesting as well, and the film's humour keeps it from feeling as long as the runtime.
Rated 15 Jun 2012
85
58th
This film is probably the most fascinating thing I've ever watched
Rated 13 May 2012
72
86th
Superbly odd. Sherman, to me the most interesting man in the Civil War is a backdrop at times to McElwee's own neurotic existence. You will never see another doc quite like this.
Rated 04 Mar 2012
6
52nd
Yeah, I "get" this, but goddamn is it boring.
Rated 08 Feb 2012
80
71st
Satisfying in the weirdest way. The film is indeed about Sherman's March, but it's also rich with the prevailing culture of the (then) contemporary South. Also along for the ride is all of Ross McElwee's baggage about women, not to mention the bizarre paranoia emanating from the late stages of the Cold War that permeates everyone's words. All in all it's a brilliant and oft-amusing time capsule of America that uses its past and its present to show life as it is.
Rated 25 Jan 2012
80
68th
That one woman who tried to set him up with the Mormon...I had some homicidal thoughts about her.
Rated 31 Oct 2011
65
29th
A film of simple corruscating moments all but obfuscated by the story of a nebbish single-mindedly driven by the conviction that procreation, and all its concomitant obligations, should dictate all decision making.
Rated 16 Sep 2011
92
87th
Wonderful in the most painful way possible. Ross is unlucky in love, we're lucky in viewing.
Rated 04 Dec 2010
35
90th
"McElwee asks us to reconnect not only with each other but with our human spirit." - Ed Gonzalez
Rated 27 Nov 2010
80
91st
McElwee knows exactly the foolish mistake he is making as he engages in one horrific romantic interlude after another, and yet he is powerless to help himself. More riveting and humorous than you would ever expect a 137-minute amateur documentary to be.
Rated 09 Nov 2010
40
8th
Ross McElwee aims to make a documentary about Sherman's March but instead delves deep into his own navel. The specter of nuclear war is apparently so strong that the all-too-real and harrowing fashion sense of mid-'80s women goes unremarked.
Rated 22 Nov 2009
75
86th
This is NOT about Sherman's march during the Civil War. Rather, it is a kind of documentary-romantic-comedy--with the filmmaker himself as the protagonist. In the film, he meets a series of different women in an attempt to find love. What is remarkable is how real and natural these people during these interactions. It is funny, and never mean-spirited (trust me, some of the people can be easily made fun of).
Rated 13 Jun 2008
99
99th
So lets go way back to the ancient times When there were no 50 states And on a hill there stands Sherman Sherman and his mates
Rated 02 Mar 2008
57
31st
# 855

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