Sherman's march: a meditation on the possibility of romantic love in the South during an era of nuclear weapons proliferation

United States, 1986

Film
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A journey by the filmmaker through the South follows the route of the Union’s General Sherman who carried on the war against the civilian population of the Confederacy, then largely female. Along the way McElwee is confronted by the mysteries of Southern womanhood in his encounters with eight women. His dreams are haunted by the spectre of nuclear war and he encounters signs of its pervasiveness along the way. McElwee assesses the state of his movie as he goes along, on the soundtrack and in a series of soliloquies to the camera.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

producer/director

Ross McElwee

Duration

02:34:00:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1986

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

315343

Language

English

Subject categories

Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - United States

Experimental

Experimental → Experimental films - United States

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - United States

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Love

History → United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865

Romance

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/92133--shermans-march-a-meditation-on-the-possibility-of-romantic-love-in-the-south-during-an-era-of-nuclear-weapons-proliferation/ |title=Sherman's march: a meditation on the possibility of romantic love in the South during an era of nuclear weapons proliferation |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=3 November 2026 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}