Moving Midway

"Moving Midway" is a must see for anyone with southern roots or anyone interested in the South, whether in reality or in popular culture. The director, Cheshire, has made a fascinating film about the South, race relations both past and present, genealogy, history, lost relatives, pop culture and one pretty amazing feat of engineering. Through the context of moving the family home, Cheshire touches on all these themes with sensitivity and intelligence. His relationship with his long-lost, black cousin is part of the dialogue on race that so many politicians call for these days. I can't add more except to say that "Moving Midway" is about a heckuva lot more than house moving, and I'll never forget it.

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".