(Better make sure those hiking boots hold up, folks…)
CAST: Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick Van Wageningen, James Nesbitt, Tcheky Karyo, Emilio Estevez.
DIRECTOR: Emilio Estevez
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some utterly compelling reasons to walk the “Camino De Santiago” - straight ahead…
IT’S LIKE THIS: Southern California physician Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) one day gets the phone call every parent dreads: his free-spirited son Daniel (Emilio Estevez), whom Tom last saw at LAX before Daniel flew off to Spain on holiday, has been killed in a freak storm that hit the path he was hiking on, without warning. Numb, Tom flies to Spain to collect Daniel’s body and discovers, quite unexpectedly, the rich history of the path that Daniel was hiking on. It is called the “Camino De Santiago” and winds through over 800 kilometers along the coast of Spain to Santiago De Compostela. Apparently, pilgrims and other lost souls have walked this path for over a thousand years, trying to find greater meaning to their lives - and Daniel died just as he was starting to do it. Heartbroken, Tom takes his son’s ashes - and decides to walk the path himself, in an effort to get closer to the memory of his son.
Along the way, he meets the following fellow travelers, one after the other: (1) Joost (Yorick Van Wageningen), a super-extroverted Dutch dude who could make friends with a rabid Doberman and is walking the path to lose weight; (2) Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), a cynical Canadian who says she is walking the path to “quit smoking”; and (3) Jack (James Nesbitt), an Irish travel writer who never met a pocket of silence that he didn’t mind filling with his constant babbling and is walking the path because, well, he‘s a travel writer and needs something to write about. Together, these four negotiate their way through 800 kilometers of Spanish villages, crappy hostels, scary innkeepers, awesome scenery, and - yes - foot blisters. Bickering the whole way. All just to reach the near-legendary cathedral called Santiago De Compostela where, presumably, the meaning and wisdom they desperately need awaits them…
THE DUDE (OR DUDETTE) MOST LIKELY TO SAVE THE DAY: Tom, Sarah, Joost, and Jack form an unexpected, tight-knit family - and are there for each other, despite appearances (all that bickering) to the contrary. Awwwwwwww….
EYE CANDY MOST LIKELY TO FIRE UP A WOODY: I know I’m one sick bitch, but I kind of like Yorick Van Wageningen as Joost, despite all that poundage. There’s just something so awesome about a guy who is comfortable with his flaws, loves food, and is funny as hell…
MOST INTENTIONALLY TOUCHING SCENE: When Tom finds the spot where Daniel died - and pays tribute. And when he almost loses Daniel’s ashes while passing by a river. James T, pass me a tissue…
MOST UNINTENTIONALLY TOUCHING SCENE: When Sarah, Joost, and Jack circle back to join Tom - after telling him they couldn’t finish the walk with him. Seriously, all this tearing up is ruining my Ice Princess image…
HOTTEST SCENE: This ain’t that kind of flick, but if we’re talking “Sweetest Scene” it’s pretty much any scene where our four heroes bond as a “family.” Love these guys.
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: Will Tom find the healing he needs when he reaches the end of the path? What about Sarah? What secret heartbreak is she trying to recover from? Will she trust Tom and share it with him? What about Jack? Will all that walking finally wear him down enough for him to shut the hell up for more than five seconds? What about Joost? Will all this walking slim him down? I hope so - because this is what he looks like when he isn’t tubby:
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH “THE WAY”: If you love films about family, friendship, healing, spirituality, fathers, sons, and - yes - beautiful scenery. If so, this is your movie…
WHY YOU MAY NOT ENJOY “THE WAY”: If you can’t stand films about family, friendship, healing, spirituality, fathers, sons, and beautiful scenery. If so, go see COWBOY AND ALIENS, instead…
BUT, SERIOUSLY: It’s interesting how some of the movies that end up becoming your favorites are sometimes the ones that sneak up on you, without warning. When I was in college back in Michigan, I stumbled across a little movie called HAWKS (review # 120) starring Timothy Dalton that I’d never heard of. Upon watching it, it won an instant place in my heart. Same thing with the recent Terence Malick/Brad Pitt collaboration THE TREE OF LIFE (review # 366). The trailers indicated something that would be, at the very least, quite interesting (it is a Terence Malick film, after all). But I was unprepared for how much the movie would ultimately affect me. Then there’s SUNSHINE (review # 407) and DÉJÀ VU (review # 379), which their trailers promised would be entertaining thrill rides but probably not much more - but ended up being distinctive and unforgettable entries into their respective genres. And now, THE WAY joins their hallowed ranks…
I had heard virtually nothing about THE WAY when a friend invited me to the movies one day last fall. She’d heard great things about it, and was keen on finding out if the praise was deserved. Honestly, I wanted to see CONTAGION or CAPTAIN AMERICA (yet another time), but wanting to be a gracious friend and always ready to try something new, I agreed. Let’s just say I’m forever grateful to her for introducing me to this wonderful film. Someone once said to me that the mark of a great film is that you are never quite the same after seeing it. In short, it teaches you something about the human condition and can actually inspire people and change them. Or as Chris Evans once said, what he loves the most about film is its ability to “make you feel” and how it can “change people’s lives”. THE WAY, put simply, really makes you feel - and may even change your life. Or at least remind you of what it should be about - and what truly matters.
This movie is a labor of love by the Estevez/Sheen family. Emilio wrote/directed it based on his own son Taylor’s experiences traveling the famed Camino De Santiago path in Spain with grandfather Martin, and both Emilio and Martin share screentime as father and son. It’s entirely apt that THE WAY would be a family affair, since one of its messages is that family - whether one of relatives or one of friends - is the most important thing in life. One of THE WAY’s taglines is “Life is too big to walk it alone” - and it’s very true. Life was meant to be shared.
The arc that Tom Avery travels is one that goes from being closed-off to being completely open - the way his son was. There’s a crucial scene at the beginning of THE WAY (glimpsed in the trailer) where Tom takes Daniel to the airport - and Daniel asks him to come walk the path with him. Tom flatly refuses, to Daniel‘s disappointment. Between this scene and the final shot of Tom at the end, is his journey of self-discovery. Suffice it to say, that last image of him is a stark difference from the standoffish man we meet at the beginning, and Sheen gracefully charts Tom’s transformation.
Sheen is aided greatly by a stellar supporting cast. Yorick Van Wageningen is a breath of fresh air as the “Heart of Solid Gold” Joost, whose first instinct is always compassion and kindness - which, naturally, Tom continually resists until he no longer can. Deborah Kara Unger’s Sarah is closer in nature to Tom - like him, she is emotionally-wounded and hides behind an icy facade, but she’s also brave enough to eventually reach out to him when she finds out about his son’s death. Unger has always been a striking screen presence in thrillers like WHISPERS IN THE DARK and THE GAME, and it’s nice to see her grace a more mellow film like this one with her beauty, intelligence, and talent. Then there’s James Nesbitt, who is perfect as the loquacious Jack, who also clashes (at first) with Tom - but more because he reminds Tom of Daniel’s combination of “smart, confident, and stubborn.”
Indeed, Daniel’s presence hangs over the journey even after his death. Whether in dreams or visions along the path, or through similar people like Jack, the memory of Daniel continually haunts Tom. In a way, Daniel is the fifth member of this “ traveling family.” The box of ashes that Tom carries with him symbolizes Daniel’s participation. Ultimately, while THE WAY is indeed about four strangers coming together as a healing community, it is primarily a love story between a father and son. How one generation learns from the experiences of the other - even after death. And how one changes the other, which is a timeless concept.
A friend once told me about a road trip he took with his father when they were both much younger. During one of their conversations while driving, he asked his father why it wasn’t possible for him to learn from his father’s experiences - automatically. Why wasn’t there a way for him, as a young man, to automatically avoid the mistakes the older man made - without being told? Why couldn’t we evolve already armed with the wisdom of the previous generation? In short - why couldn’t we have the same type of evolution, emotionally, that we already have, biologically? Why is a human being from 1812, similar in emotion to a human being from 1912 and 2012?
I never told him this, but my theory is that if we could evolve emotionally, automatically, then we would not have anything to learn from one another - nor have a reason to help each other. We would have nothing to save each other from, or anything to take away from our experiences together. Whether father and son, mother and daughter, sibling and sibling, lover and lover, friend and friend. Or just human and human. Maybe the greatest gift that we can give each other is enlightenment, understanding, and assistance. Maybe our inability as a species to evolve emotionally is actually a way to keep us connected - and continually learning from each other, and helping one another. Which is what THE WAY is, in the end, all about: friends learning from friends, fathers learning from sons, sons learning from fathers - and everyone helping. If we were perfect emotional machines, we wouldn’t need anyone else. Or each other.
I had originally planned to save THE WAY for the Valentine’s 2012 line-up as an example of a “Father-Son“ love story. But I thought it best to get the review out there now, while it is still showing in some theaters across the country in limited release. With a little luck, you’ll get to see it on the big screen with a theater audience - and hopefully be just a little changed by it. I dedicate this review to my own Dad, who’s always been there for me - and never fails to remind me of what really matters. This also goes out to all the fathers and sons out there, especially if you’ve been on a journey together - or are about to embark on one. Don’t lose your way…
In closing, the lovely “Lost” from Coldplay, which is featured both in THE WAY’s trailer and the film itself…
