The Way

Synopsis: American ophthalmologist Tom (Martin Sheen) gets distressing news from Europe that his only son. Daniel (Emilio Estevez) has been killed in a hiking accident on a walk known as El Camino de Santiago or "The Way of St James" in the Pyrenees. Tom flies to France to collect Daniel’s belongings, but becomes inspired to make the walk himself as a pilgrimage to his son. The people he meets along the way, the breathtaking scenery, and the coming to terms with more than just his son’s death are all part of Tom’s memorable trek.

Up front and in short, I loved this film, not simply because it looks remarkably beautiful, but because it has so much heart and a deep sense of the spiritual and the redemptive without labouring its themes.

Martin Sheen, veteran of more than 65 movie roles, and much loved in TV’s West Wing, is at the heart of this moving and uplifting tale. When he gets the dire news, Tom, who has lost contact with his son, is on the golf course lamenting his lack of fitness. Once in France where he meets Captain Henri (Tchéky Karyo), an empathetic policeman who tells Tom he has already walked The Way three times, and that he also had lost a child, Tom makes the decision to do the walk himself and complete Daniel’s walk in his honour. As Tom reflects upon his relationship with his son we see enough flashbacks to give us a sense of Daniel, sensitively portrayed by director Estevez, in real life, Sheen’s son.  

As one would expect, Tom meets many fellow pilgrims along the way. The first is an ebullient, amiable Dutchman, Yoost (Yorick van Wageningen), who says he’s walking the Way to lose weight. Next is Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), a chain-smoking blonde, who ostensibly is walking to kick the habit, even though she chain-smokes the entire distance. Finally we have Jack, (James Nesbitt), an Irishman with writer’s block. Tom is initially surly and uncommunicative, wishing to jealously keep the reason he is walking to himself but the connection between the little band of walkers strengthens and the real truth of each pilgrim’s reason for walking will out.

While the characters are fictional, the walk is real. This 790 km trek through Basque country across the north of Spain has some of the most glorious scenery I’ve seen on film. It encompasses many and varied landscapes, idyllic villages, gypsy camps and at the journey’s end the stunning Church of St James with its amazing incense censer. The camera eats up the views, but never lets us lose sight of the characters at the story’s heart. It is fascinating, too, to see the logistics of such a walk. Taking about two months (though this energetic crew did it in less), it involves dormitory style sleeping at hostels, a minimum of physical comfort and the real possibility of danger or even death.
Sheen gives a very moving and layered performance, despite the taciturn nature of his character. Nesbitt is a lot of fun as the cocky Irishman, who terms the walk a “metaphor bonanza”. The character of Joost is so warm and feel good, and even the cynical Sarah touches the heart when we hear her story.

Impatient viewers will probably be frustrated by this gentle, quietly moving film, but I found it a delight. Although not a lot happens dramatically, we get a real sense of the characters, of the region, and whatever the motives, of the transformative power of undertaking such a journey.

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