Moving Midway

2007. USA. Directed by Godfrey Cheshire. New York–based film critic Godfrey Cheshire's richly observed documentary film about his colonial roots in the American South begins with the impending move of Midway, the old family plantation in Raleigh to a new location to make room for a shopping mall. This coincides with the news that Godfrey and his cousins are kin to the Hintons, an African American branch of the family. What starts as an investigation of heritage and change develops into an eye-opening family drama. How will the anticipated upheaval affect the family "ghosts," principally Mary Hinton, eccentric former doyenne of Midway, not to mention Godfrey's delightfully patrician mother, to whom the revelation of newly discovered black relatives is a source of astonishment and possible amusement? A thoroughly entertaining, informative, and stimulating film about the Southern plantation as both a symbol and a fading reality. 98 min.