The Way (2010)

Directed by: Emilio Estevez | 123 minutes | adventure, comedy, drama | Actors: Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick van Wageningen, James Nesbitt, Romy Baskerville, Renée Estevez, David Alexanian, William Holden, Spencer Garrett, Joe Torrenueva, Tchéky Karyo, Stéphane Dausse, Ángela Molina, Simón Andreu, Patxi Perez

One of the most famous Christian pilgrimage sites in the world is Santiago de Compostela in Spain. According to tradition, the resting place of James (the Greater), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. The road to it – the Camino de Santiago – is walked by thousands of pilgrims every year. Writer/director/actor Emilio Estevez had wanted to make a film about the Camino for some time, after his father Martin Sheen and son Taylor Estevez had already traveled the route. Therefore, it is only fitting that both were involved in the making of the film. A project that is visibly made with love.

Martin Sheen plays Tom, an ophthalmologist who has been so absorbed in his work for decades that he hardly takes the time to explore the world. His son Daniel (Emilio Estevez) is the opposite. His education can be stolen from him – he wants to go out. When he wants to undertake the Camino de Santiago, he dies in a storm after one day. Tom immediately leaves for France to collect his son’s remains. Confronted with his dead child, he decides on a whim to finish his journey. He puts on Daniel’s backpack, takes his ashes in a metal box and sets off completely unprepared.

Although he doesn’t really want company at all, Tom soon finds out that you naturally hang out together on the Camino. The first fellow traveler is Joost (Yorick van Wageningen in optima forma), a plump Rotterdammer who mainly makes the journey to lose weight. A flapout with a small heart. Later, Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger) and Jack (James Nesbitt) join them. The first is a chain-smoking Canadian who initially strongly distrusts Tom (who is American). The second an Irish travel guide writer with writer’s block. In the group dynamic that arises, the four learn to accept their own weaknesses and to open up to the others.

That may sound very cliché, but Estevez knows how to portray the characters with so much love and humor that it feels completely honest. Yorick van Wageningen in particular impresses with his subtle playing. But Martin Sheen also shows his best side as the stiff, unapproachable Tom who slowly but surely opens up to the world and his loved ones during the journey. It is a credible group of people who interact with each other in a completely natural way. Each and every one of them is given the space to tell their story and to respond to that of the others. In the end everyone (especially the viewer) will become wiser, without the morality being too thick on top of it.

The atmospheric images of the beautiful French and Spanish landscape, supported by a rock-solid soundtrack, make the film a joy to watch. At two hours, it is a bit on the long side and in the end not all the details during the trip come out as well (especially an incident with a gypsy boy who steals Tom’s bag seems very forced), but the film has a special pleasant cadence. Unlike the pilgrimage itself, it does not offer a life-changing experience, but it does offer hope and inspiration. And the latter is certainly worth a lot!