Moving Midway (2007)

Director:

Godfrey Cheshire

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

At Christmas 2003, New York-based film critic Godfrey Cheshire is visiting his family in North Carolina...

Cast

Bruce Chadwick

...

Expert

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

North Carolina, USA

Ebony and Ivory

MOVING MIDWAY is the saga of 'Midway Plantation', ancestral home to the family of Godfrey Cheshire, the director of the film. In the winter of 2003 Cheshire learned that his cousin, Charlie, caretaker and owner of the mansion and huge estate is going to move the antebellum home to a new location a few miles away due to intense commercial development in the area. During the preparation for the move, the director is contacted by a black man, Robert Hinton, Associate Director of African-American studies at New York University who turns out to be a blood relative, and this development allows Cheshire to show how the specter of slavery impacted the family legacy. The film examines how family members of both races exchange details of their heritage, and come to terms with the relocation. Cheshire makes the case that much of what is considered 'historical fact' is based on biased opinion and myths which have been deeply influenced by popular culture, and especially Hollywood. The issue of Race is handled with great tact and gentility, however the fundamental component of Class is largely ignored. Although by the close of the film, we are introduced to many of the Black relatives, it is the White family members who have retained ownership of the land, and this is the source of the the family's substantial wealth. I wonder how the tone and content of the film would have changed if somebody had whispered the word, "REPARATION".