Carry Me Home

2004

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An explosion of drums. Men in crisp tailored suits march down the aisle. Women throw their hands up and shout. Men with top hats and canes parade the streets. A brass band joins in. Everyone is shouting, singing, dancing, moving. And in the middle of all of this is a coffin. Carry Me Home bears witness to the widespread tradition of celebration in African-American funerals today.The film weaves together interviews, archival materials, profiles of funeral directors, and the journey of one widow, Lessie Thompson, as her grief opens a window into the vivid, elaborate funeral traditions that take their roots in the very beginnings of African-American history. On January 23, 2008, funeral director Michael Luckey got a "first call" from his friend and fellow churchgoer, Lessie Thompson. Her husband of thirty-three years had just passed away. Michael left his desk at Harrison-Ross Mortuaries and made a house call on her. He sat down with Lessie, her pastor, and her family, and as he took Lessie through a shaky, emotional meeting, somehow, she did not shed a tear.Carry Me Home shows a grieving widow who finds peace because of the support of an enduring culture of family, community, and celebration. Funeral director Cookie Baker invites us into her family-run funeral home, where she answers phones, prays with her customers, and offers Kleenex and kindness. Cookie's stories of her grandfather are woven together with interviews from the renowned Rev. Chip Murray of Los Angeles 1st AME Church and Dr. Ronald K. Barrett, the foremost expert in African-American Death. They take us through the awful, powerful history of African-American funeral homes that goes all the way back to West Africa. Compelling footage of a Ghanaian wake, as well as some of the most lavish and stylish funerals in recent Texas history, highlight scenes of Lessie viewing her husband in a casket for the first time and cheering on her feet at his funeral.Carry Me Home is so much more than a document of the countless, stirring funeral ceremonies that take place all over this country -- it is a testament to the ordinary people who struggle to celebrate the traditions of family and community in a vastly corporate and impersonal world.