Art

did to Atlanta or its environs.nSherman’s March is a form of cinemanverite, where nothing is rehearsednor scripted—which just goes to shownthat real life is weirder and funniernthan anything you or I could possiblynmake up. McElwee’s characters are allnreal—from his sister and her plasticnsurgery, to Claudia’s survivalistnfriends, to McElwee’s former girlfriend,nto Karen’s new boyfriend Camnand his incessant and incomprehensiblentrading of life-sized plastic animals.nThis isn’t the imagined South Jarmuschncreated. But if McElwee’s isn’tna mythological South, it’s a Southnmythologized. Certainly Charleen, annold friend and former teacher of Mc­nARTnA Peek at Burghleynby Shehbaz SafraninWilliam III took one look at BurghleynHouse (the Elizabethan residence ofnthe Cecil family) and declared it “toongreat for a subject.” Four hundrednyears old in the democratic year ofn1986, Burghley is exposing some of itsntreasures to the prying eyes of ordinarynAmericans.nThe Burghley Porcelains went onnview at New York City’s Japan HousenGallery on May 15. After closing herenon July 27, this show travels to thenHigh Museum of Art, Atianta, fromnDecember 2, 1986, through Februaryn1, 1987, and thereafter tours in fourncities in Japan until 1988. The exhibitionnwas made possible by grants fromnAmerican Express Company and thenNational Endowment for the Humanities.nBurghley House was built by WilliamnCecil (1520-1598) according tonhis own designs. As first Lord Burghleynand the great minister and Lord HighnTreasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, WilliamnCecil became very affluent. Cecil’sndescendants were made Earls ofnExeter in 1605 and Marquesses inn1801. Cecil built Burghley House be­nElwee’s who is determined to get himnfixed up and settled down, who is sonimposing, bawdy and funny, is largernthan life. This is despite the fact that,nseeing as McElwee’s camera is alwaysnperched on his shoulder, even duringnsome pretty painful conversations, thisnfilm is intimate in a way no regularnstaged film can be. (I think that thisnintimacy is just what cinema veritendirectors got into this kind of filmmakingnto achieve and is the reasonnthey prefer the camera-slung-acrossthe-shoulderntechnique to the morennormal, silent, omnipresent thirdpartyntechnique all feature films andnmost documentaries assume.)nSo McElwee has managed to stitchntogether (with even an occasionalntween 1555 and 1587 on the remainsnof a 12th-century monastery, and itsnarchitecture is widely recognized asnamong the finest of its period.nSmall wonder that William III remarkednin 1690 that it was “too largenfor a subject.” What is significant isnthat the Burghley collection of artnincludes outstanding paintings by Europeannmasters, furniture, tapestries,nstatuaries, and silver. At the recentlyntie-in to the original subject of hisnfilm, William Tecumseh) a homeynsort of tale. Sherman’s March has nonenof the occasional ominousness ofnDown By Law (an ominousness whichnis never overt but never goes away,neither), and Ross McElwee as the centralncharacter of his own movie isnreassuringly inarticulate even as Jacknand Zack are slightiy creepily so. But ifnonly in bringing the camera lens in sonclose on a South that for both filmmakersnmay be more cliche than reality,nthey have transformed a little dailynlife into the rudderless, fumbling stuffnof legend.nKatherine Dalton writes from NewnYork.nconcluded exhibition at the NationalnGallery in the capital, for instance,n”Treasure Houses of Britain” includedna Queen Anne silver cistern weighingn3,400 ounces, among a number ofnobjects from the Burghley House.nDaniel Defoe, of Robinson Crusoenfame, on the other hand, saw Burghleyndifferentiy in 1724. “More like antown than a house,” he wrote. “Thentowers and the pinnacles so high, andnLarge bowl; China, Ming dynasty, late-16th-century Jingdezhen ware: whitenporcelain with underglaze blue decoration; silver-gilt mounts, c. 1580-1600; H.n13.9 cm., Diam. (at rim) 21.S cm.nnnMARCH 1987/43n