Back in 2010 when “The Way” came out, one immediately assumed that movie stars Emilio Estevez and father Martin Sheen made this movie with their troubled movie star brother and son Charlie Sheen in mind, in hopes that he’d see the need for a thorough soul-cleansing.
Like so many actors before him who succumbed to the excesses of Hollywood and successfully recovered (“Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr. being a prime example; Martin Sheen himself being another), one hoped “The Way” would give Charlie (who was going through a particularly toxic period at the time) a road to a Damascus type of revelation.
Regardless of Charlie’s personal journey, brother Emilio succeeded in creating a humanistic road-trip drama that captures the spirit and offers an example of seeking meaning in one’s life during these complicated times.
On the Camino, he meets a gregarious, chubby Dutchman named Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), whose quest is to lose weight; a cynical, angry Canadian (Deborah Kara Unger), whose quest is to quit smoking; and a garrulous Irish travel writer (James Nesbitt), who, while clearly having kissed the Blarney Stone, has writer’s block.
We follow them through the bucolic French and Basque countryside, along steep paths in the Pyrenees, through copses, vineyards, quaint inns, and hostels, and over hill and dale.
There’s more than a little of “The Wizard of Oz” about the way the group forms and the roles of the four main characters. They joke, offend, confront each other, have a tiny war, get drunk, philosophize, have adventures together, and end up bonding deeply.
Among the many interesting things about the film are the campfire debates about what constitutes a true pilgrim and a true pilgrimage. A false pilgrim eliminates suffering by riding bicycles or horses and indulging in creature comforts, and at one point our new friends collectively lapse into this type of blasé pilgrimage: They cheat by checking into a luxurious hotel with cognac and masseurs—compliments of Tom.
A real pilgrim is destitute, chooses suffering for soul-cleansing, that is, the (Christian) atonement of sin or the (Buddhist) repayment of karmic debt. This is visually depicted when the travelers eventually cross paths with a real, heavy-duty, old-school version of the pilgrimage: silent monks carrying a massive, heavy wooden cross, with their backs bleeding from self-flagellation.
The modern pilgrimage depicted in the film would appear to be, in large part, about forming friendships. To be sure, deep bonds and sharing offer part of the sea change of the soul sought on a pilgrimage. But, as evidenced by the spiritually tough, hard-men monks, it’s still a far cry from the original version, where, in addition to the physical hardship, a scouring, deep loneliness was key for a true cleansing of the soul.
“‘I essentially have nothing to promote today ... actually I do have something to promote: I’m promoting sanity,’” he said. “‘I’m promoting a sense of nobility and a return to a more innocent place and just gratitude and knowing that whatever comes next, work-wise, that the version that I will deliver will be spectacular.’”
‘The Way’ Director: Emilio Estevez Starring: Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, Yorick van Wageningen Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 2 hours, 3 minutes Release Date: Oct. 7, 2011 (USA, limited release) Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
