My husband and I unwind at the end of each day with a glass
of wine and half a movie, finishing it the next evening. Our cinematic preferences encompass a wide
range of genres from the latest blockbuster to the small-budget independent
films. It is often the small-budget films that stay with us the longest. These
movies are story driven with characters and dialogue that require thoughtful
consideration. The Way, written by Emilio Estevez and starring his father Martin
Sheen, is precisely that kind of movie.
The premise, as described by IMDB, is simple and poignant: “A
father heads overseas to recover the body of his estranged son who died while
traveling the “El camino de Santiago,” and decides to take the pilgrimage
himself.” The father [Tom] travels with his son Daniel’s ashes. It is a deeply
moving movie interspersed with thoughtful dialogue and generously sprinkled
comedic moments.
Along the way, the lapsed Catholic Tom unwillingly acquires
traveling companions Dutchman Joost, Canadian Sarah, and Irishman Jack. This
unlikely foursome travel the El camino de Santiago, hurting and helping to heal
one another along the way. Martin Sheen said of the movie, "Pilgrimage is structured so it takes you out of your comfort zone. You pack all the things you need and soon you realize it's too heavy and have to start unpacking. Then the transcendence starts on stuff you've packed in your interior life, and you begin opening those closets and cells and dungeons and letting all the people out you've been punishing all your life."
I’m a Protestant and was unfamiliar with this pilgrimage. I’m
a conservative and thought I’d have little use for a movie written by the more
liberal Estevez or his father. However, the movie presented to me an ecumenical
window into the larger Christian community. Activist Sheen and I are
diametrically opposed on most political issues, but we share an opposition to
abortion and reverence for life. Politics aside, because of this movie I now
see these men as fellow believers.
We return to The Way
time and time again because the story is moving, the relationships real, and
the community welcoming. It speaks of healing, forgiveness, acceptance, and
love.
