I received tickets from my favorite radio station to see a sneak peek of this movie tonight. I did not know much about it. I checked out the trailer on the website quick yesterday. It sounded like a really good movie.
I attended with a 14 year old girl and 2 other adult women. There was a mixture of ages and both men and women in attendance. The theater was quite full.
The movie is about the pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James, a trail across France and Spain. There is beautiful scenery and the movie was filmed on the actual trail. The music score is great too. The Way has just the right amount of humor and drama. Martin Sheen stars. It was written and directed by Emilio Estevez. Emilio is also in brief scenes of the movie. I am not familiar with the other actors, but the performances were stellar.
While the film focuses greatly on the walking of the trail, it is more than "just" an endurance walk. This is not just a day trip. It takes weeks/months even. It comes across as a spiritual experience where meeting the people traveling with you is just as important as getting to your goal. Every person walks the trail for different reasons. Sheen's character, Tom Avery, does not set out to walk the trail. He was invited by his son, but Tom's a doctor and has his life quite structured and seems to like it that way. His son, Daniel, starts to walk the trail, but does not get to finish. Tom decides to finish for him and learns a lot about his son, himself and the three traveling buddies he picks up along the way. The traveling companions each have their own reasons for being on the trail. The Way is a sometimes tense, but enjoyable journey.
There was a scene in the middle of the movie that reminded me of an older version of the tell the truth meeting from "Breakfast Club". Not sure if that was intended or not, but I enjoyed it!
The main thing I gained from watching the movie is that life is less about the destination. Life is more about the journey to get there and the people you meet along the way. Great quote from the movie, "You don't choose a life, you make one."
I very rarely see movies in the theater or in the opening week. However, if we want to continue to see family friendly movies made, we need to support them with our entertainment dollars. Money talks.
I would not hesitate to recommend this movie. It has some really good scenes for discussion. The scenery alone is enough to make me want to find out more about making the trek.
Official "The Way" movie site
