?The Way,? Emilio Estevez?s fourth feature as a writer-director, begins at theSpiritual ?Way? is a family affair
Estevez?s fourth feature stars father, Martin Sheen
?The Way,? Emilio Estevez?s fourth feature as a writer-director, begins at the Camino de Santiago?s start, in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, below the often-snowbound Route de Napoleon over the Pyrenees. Starring Martin Sheen, Estevez?s father, it takes in Galicia?s improbable-looking Santiago de Compostela, a huge piece of medieval real estate topped by a jaw-dropping cathedral. Sheen plays Tom, an American widower who?s in St.-Jean to reclaim the body of his estranged son, who died, lost on the Route de Napoleon. Tom cremates the remains, puts them in his son?s backpack and starts off to complete the young man?s journey Camino de Santiago?s start, in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, below the often-snowbound Route de Napoleon over the Pyrenees. Starring Martin Sheen, Estevez?s father, it takes in Galicia?s improbable-looking Santiago de Compostela, a huge piece of medieval real estate topped by a jaw-dropping cathedral. Sheen plays Tom, an American widower who?s in St.-Jean to reclaim the body of his estranged son, who died, lost on the Route de Napoleon. Tom cremates the remains, puts them in his son?s backpack and starts off to complete the young man?s journey
Do you know when this is going to be released? It will be interesting to see if it makes the Camino even more busy - and it would be great for me to know just incase there are a huge amount of searches at the time it comes out so that I can let my web host know - rather not have my site crash...
A group of us walked from St Jean to Najera at the end of Sept - start of Oct and met up with the film crew several times. They were in St Jean, Roncesvalles and Akerreta several times. The film is due for release late 2010 and as indicated already involves Sheen on his own walk of discovery. He described it to me as a type of Wizard of Oz story where he meets up with 3 other characters , each of them searching for something missing from their respective lives, as they walk the Camino. Sheen is for Roscommon in Ireland next year to make a film in his mothers home village about the impact of cinema in rural 1950s Ireland. He - and all of the crew- were really "down to earth" - not at all the general perception perhaps of actors etc. I'm trying to attach a picture of a good friend with M. Sheen in Roncesvalles.
I have very mixed feelings about this.
It is almost certain to add huge numbers to the Way. I am always troubled when something very special is commercialized by the media..(TV, Movie, etc).
I guess I am selfish as I find that one of the best times on the Camino is when one is alone and not in a crowd of others.\
Others may have different thoughts, of course.
I can understand how you feel. However, if the film is sensitively done I think I would welcome it.
I think we have all been spoilt by fairly low numbers of pilgrims walking the camino. Remember that in the middle ages the numbers were much greater than they are today. Pilgrimage was promoted by St James associations, by churches, minstrels and by travelling troubadours. It was almost like the Haj of the Christian world!
I have a post on my blog titled 'Back to the Past' which discusses the decline of the camino after the reformation and religios wars and the revival of the modern pilgrimage.
We haven't even begun to catch up with the medieval pilgrimage!
Still......I would prefer to not have hordes of persons (maybe pilgrims..maybe tourists) around all the way.
I would think that maybe they would just add to the crowd from Sarria.
Ed
Yes, you are right. Every new book or film encourages more and more pilgrims to walk el camino!
I have found that the large groups, some with just day-packs, that start from Sarria are mostly Spanish - and why not, Sant Iago is their Patron Saint and they too would like a Compostela!
The Xunta in Galicia is trying to encourage pilgrims to walk the last 100km of the other routes instead of the Frances from Galicia.
The Camino Ingles is a lovely walk and was the route favoured by most Jacobean pilgrims from England in the middle ages. I walked this route in June and did not see a single pilgrim - my friend and I had the albergues to ourselves.
One can also walk the last 100km from Tui, Ourense or Lugo.
Abrazo.
Hi Sil thanks for you e-mail. U know I'm planning to do Camino Frances in Aug 2011 for church charity drive, mayb e Frances to busy, will Camino del Norte maybe be a better choice. Cannot find much refugio info on it. Thanks for your patience in answering all my Q's Are you on a Camino at the moment? Thanks Daleen
I just saw this movie last night. I had no prior knowledge of "The Camino". Without giving anything away, as I have the greatest respect for Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez, this is a movie that everyone must see. It is authentic, honest and thoroughly believable. Absent from this film is the usually Hollywood glitz and glamour. It is just a truthful and honest story that respects the locations it visits. The feeling I had after the screening was one of having just listened to a good friend describe a very important journey. Emilio Estevez has done an excellent job of telling and filming a great story. I am sure this film will increase interest in The Camino, however, probably only with those that take deep meaning from it's origins. Although this film would probably be embarrssed by it, for it is placed well above the usual Hollywood drivil, it deserves an academy award nomination for best film.
Last edited by skelligrocks; 12-03-2010 at 07:54 PM.
I saw the film at an advanced screening in Huntington Beach, California. It was a one night viewing to get input from the audience after the screening. The film was very well received by everyone in the focus group I was in. The only comment regarding a release date was that it would be late in the year.
Although I will be interested to see the film, it does make me wonder whether the impact will be positive.
One of the aspects that made the camino so special was that it is not advertised and that you stumble upon it when you are seeking something a bit more spiritual and 'raw'. The type of person who seeks this tends to be quite respectful and tries to honour the camino by not cutting corners....then again who is anyone to say one person suits something more than another....
Hmmm...even if it were so that this film would promote camino as more of an tourist type of thing to do, I still don't believe that it's going to become one, tourist paradise as some would say. It really is something that needs determination and not something that everyday tourist would intend to do. I only think that the last 100km is going to become more crowded as most people don't have the time to do the full camino. If you start from SJPDP I believe you can still get some peace and time to think alone on the way to santiago
I to have seen the film - I did have some knowledge already of "The Camino" and if my health and mobility would allow me I wouldve done after seeing the film . Like skelligrocks I am a huge admirer for many years standing of Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. I have most of Martins films and all of Emilio's that he has written and directed. I have to say this is by far the best. It was a more personal view of The Camino than the usual Hollywood treatment. You get wrapped up in the whole experience and share Inspiring, emitional, thoughtprovoking and a touch of humour thrown in for good measure. The scene where a young gypsy boy steals his rucksack containing Daniels Ashes - your heart goes out to him the conversation he has subsequently with the boys father is, in my opinion a real highlight of the film!
I love the face that this film has involved so many of the Estevez family from Martin's wife to Emilios son and people from the Camino and Spain itself.
I wish the film lots of success and I think that it may encourage more people to complete the walk but it will only be by people who are looking for that solitude in their lives .
Di
I haven't read this thread before, and I now feel like I am one of those people who will just be adding to the crowds. I'll be honest, I had no prior knowledge of the Camino before I watched the film 7 weeks ago. But after watching it, it appealed to me because of the way my life is at the moment. However, I was brought up a Catholic and attended church every Sunday, and I also served on the Altar for 10 years... so I think coming from that background has given me more of a personal connection to the Camino and the spiritual side of it.
But I must also say that the film is excellently produced and directed, and I would not be surprised to see the numbers greatly increase in the next couple of years (I think the film releases in the UK sometime this week, it may already be out in America... I shamefully downloaded it illegally, but will be buying the DVD when it comes out).
Joe
I looked for it online weeks ago but didnt find it and am now legally going to see it on the big screen here in Ireland on Thurs. Great to see good write ups. I have been reading about the Camino for years but only now have "made" the time.
Buen Camino.
I saw The Way a couple of weeks ago. I expected it to be terrible and cringe inducing (ie. the Hollywood treatment of the Camino). But in the end I actually quite enjoyed it. It captures the Camino about as well as a fictional film can. OK, some of the clichés are a bit heavy-handed, but that goes with the format. It was a nice story and it captured the random madness of the Camino in a funny way.
Saw it a few weeks and commented elsewhere. I enjoyed the movie very much and really enjoyed the scenery and presentation of camino. Good parts include alberque in Roncesvalles ? imagine it was the real thing ? I hope to walk the full distance this Sep-Oct and liked the interaction between the walkers, I have read a few books and all of them have some of the good! people and the "hard to like" people. Liked the dutch character and the food! the woman's story wasn't great but..all in all I would imagine it would attract people to research the "detail". No reference to sore feet, lots of drinking ! and Sheen wore his coat almost the whole way through, oh the rucksack into the river was good too, and the gypsies.
The albergue in Roncesvalles is totally different than what it showed in the film... but i heard it had been rennovated last year (2010), and the movie was being made in 2008 i think. The albergue in roncesvalles is pleasant, the beds aren´t as close together as what the movie shows. I liked it
I enjoyed watching this a couple of months before I did the Camino de Santiago from Sarria. I enjoyed it more for it's cinematic depiction of a beautiful journey on a pilgrimage through breathtaking country, meeting people from all over the world, carrying your worldly possessions on your back (though I must say I thought their packs were humongous...mine was about a thrid that size amd I would have fallen flat on my face trying to walk with packs like theirs) sleeping at humble but vibrant albergues, and the variation and intoxicating beauty of the path.that often seemed to meander back to medieval times..a path to some sort of meaning unique for everyone, but more than just a long hike, for after all it is a pilgrimage to the relics of a holy man...all this the film gave me, but I though over all the fmovie had that made for television quality about it.
I have seen a non-commercial copy of the film & thought it was done tastefully & brilliantly. Something that could have been boring to non-camoists really was transformational.
I understand that we want the Camino to be a "private" walk & don't want it to become to busy, but remember this is 2011 & it is a public space. If others want to walk 800km's with their pack on their back, take in the amazing countryside, meet life changing people & enjoy it as much as we did. Then so be it.
So long as it remains in that style & not the bus visiting brigade of the last 100, it will do me.
I saw the film recently and thought it was fantastic. It was very respectfully done and very real. I have the camino bug for about a year now and seeing the film has spurred me on to actually doing something abount it. I am currently in training, walking as often as i can to build up the miles to get my fitness up.
The music from the film is also brilliant and I was only home from the film when i downloaded the soundtrack. Havn't stopped listening to it since.
I understand the film is not out in the States until September.
Larry you only need a moderate level of fitness. The fitness will grow as you walk. I was quite "walking fit" when I started, but it was the weight of the pack that was the difference. So if I could give you some advice, if not doing it already, walk with a pack on. Even if it only has 5/6kilos in it.
Larry when I started walking I had been unwell for about 7 months and hadn't walked more than 5km at a time for training so don't stress! The fitness will develop as you walk - but I only did Sarria - Santiago and did around 16km -23km per day. I did have to have a rest day due to health complications but hey, I did it, and a few weeks before I left home I didn't think I'd even get on the plane!
I can't wait till this comes out in Australia but by the look of things I might be waiting for a while...
I can see plans to release it in the US but so far haven't come across any announcements for Australia
Thanks. I will only have about 3 weeks available but would like to do the French way. Any idea where i should start with say 17 or 18 days walking available to me.
Well, I have just returned home after watching The Way in a central London cinema. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be, even if the traveling companions were a little stereotyped!
I have walked the Camino Frances 5 times and in places in the film I was a little confused as to which order some of the scenery shots came in. At one point I swear we were going backwards!!
Still, apart from the plot, it gave a reasonable pictorial view as to the sort of countryside we are stumbling through!!
I was in Santiago two years ago and met the film crew when they were shooting the Santiago Cathedral scenes.
Covey, after finishing the Camino I watched the movie again and I totally agree with you... some of the parts in the movie are mixed up, some I don't even recognise, like the hay stacks in the field, I passed a few of them but they weren't like that. And the scene where he drops his backpack into the river... I can't recall passing that river or bridge, can anyone confirm which bridge/river that is??
However, after walking it myself and watching the movie with my family again, it felt great saying "I've been there, I've saw that" to a lot of villages, milestones, and even a cafe!
I was a little disapointed that I didn't walk to Muxia because it looks really nice in the movie (the lighthouse there looks a lot better than the one in Finisterre).
Review of "The Way" with Martin Sheen 
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