Movie review: The Way - starring Martin Sheen

Recently I attended an advanced screening of the movie The Way, starring Martin Sheen and co-starring his son Emilio Estevez. Emilio also wrote, directed, and co-produced the film. Both Martin and Emilio were surprise guests at the screening and spoke to the audience afterwards. Emilio apologized for the kinds of films Hollywood produces today which are typically devoid of any story concept, relatable characters, and moral values. He said he hasn't shown The Way to any Hollywood film executives yet, because he feels the movie is so un-Hollywood, he isn't confident about finding a U.S. distributor. He plans to open the movie this fall in Europe to build momentum towards a projected release here in the U.S. by year end.

I loved this movie and highly recommend it for several reasons. It has a well written script – the movie tells a story that you want to apply to your own life. The acting is a pleasure to watch. In my opinion it's the best acting by Martin Sheen since Apocalypse Now. Even when there is no dialogue, Martin gives a master class on acting with his eyes and facial expressions. The supporting characters are interesting and well acted, adding to the depth of the story. The soundtrack includes songs by James Taylor, Alanis Morrisette and Coldplay, as well as a beautiful score by Tyler Bates.

Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor and widower who travels to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to recover the body of his estranged adult son (played by Emilio), who was killed accidentally during a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago (The Way of Saint James). Driven by his profound grief, Tom decides to finish the 800 kilometer pilgrimage his son began, taking his son's cremated remains with him and spreading them along the historical trek - from the Pyrenees in southern France, to Santiago de Compostela in northwest of Spain.

While walking “The Camino”, Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world bearing their own unique burdens, all looking for greater meaning in their lives. The film centers on this unlikely quartet featuring the main protagonist Tom, a gregarious Dutchman (played brilliantly by Yorick van Wageningen) a Canadian with an attitude (Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irish narcissistic travel writer (James Nesbitt) who is experiencing writer's block.

Together these pilgrims experience community in the journey together as they learn from one another. Tom’s inner healing is gradual, as is his journey from agnosticism back to faith again. The words of his son come back to him as he learns to let go of his California-country-club life and discover the difference between "The life we live and the life we choose".

The Way was filmed entirely in Spain and France along the actual Camino de Santiago.

The Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James is a spiritual journey that pilgrims of all faiths and backgrounds have traversed for a thousand years. The French Way (Spanish: Camino Francés) is the most popular of the routes. This route covers 800 kilometers and runs from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles on the Spanish side before making its way through to Santiago de Compostela through the major cities of Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos, León and concludes at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain where tradition says that the remains of the Apostle James are buried.

Pilgrims walk the Camino for various reasons. Some to seek penance, others enlightenment, and still others for a sense of adventure. Most pilgrims choose to carry a scallop shell with them to symbolize their journey in honor of St. James. Pilgrims also carry a Compostela, which is a passport that is stamped at each important stop highlighting the completion of the journey officially recognized with a special certificate at the passport office in Santiago.

As I watched this movie, there was something strangely familiar about it (in a good sort of way). The previous week I read Donald Miller’s recent book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, in which he writes about a life-changing epiphany he experiences through the concept of story and how it shapes our greater life story – the life we choose tells a story. He illustrates how this concept changed his life from boring and reclusive to being filled with risk, opportunity, love, beauty and meaningful narrative. Inspired to tell a new story with his life, he describes, with his usual endearing candor and humor, several new life experiences including biking across America for charity, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, finding his estranged father after 30 years, and founding a successful non-profit mentorship program that led to his appointment on President Obama's task force on Fatherhood and Healthy Families.

There was a similar epiphany in this movie and an identical reason - which I'll unpack below.  The concept of story that Don describes in detail in his book comes from a series of intensive lectures he attended at a seminar given by Robert McKee, a Fulbright Scholar and former USC professor who is renowned for his story seminars. McKee is the author of a "screenwriters' bible" called Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. It is considered THE source for inspiration amongst screenwriters. Mckee was depicted in the movie Adaptation which showcased his teaching and influence.

Besides Miller's book, I heard identical story/values concepts in Emilio’s speech after the screening. In Emilio’s bio on Wikipedia, it states he is also an alumnus of Robert McKee’s story seminar. Though entirely unrelated, the film and the book went together very well and were food for deep personal introspection on my spiritual walk as a struggling follower of Jesus Christ.

The following are some excerpts from McKee’s book on story:

“The storyteller’s selection and arrangement of events is his metaphor for the interconnectedness of all the levels of reality – personal, political, environmental, spiritual.

Stripped of its surface of characterization and location, story structure reveals his personal cosmology, his insight in to the deepest patterns and motivations for how and why things happen in this world – his map of life’s hidden order.

The final cause of the decline of story runs very deep. Values, the positive/negative charges of life, are at the soul of our art.

The writer shapes story around a perception of what’s worth living for and what’s worth dying for, what is foolish to pursue, the meaning of justice, truth – the essentials values. In decades past, writer and society more or less agreed on these questions, but more and more ours has become an age of moral and ethical cynicism, relativism, and subjectivism – a great confusion of values.

As the family disintegrates and sexual antagonisms rise, who, for example, feels he understands the nature of love?

And how, if you do have a conviction, do you express it to an evermore skeptical audience?

The erosion of values has brought with it a corresponding erosion of story.”

~ Robert McKee

It is interesting to note that McKee is not a Christian.

The following comes from the movie’s website. It sums up well the application of a story we create with our lives and the inherent values we portray.

In the film, a father unfortunately comes to understand his son's life through his death and along the road finds himself as well. The main protagonist of the film is the conflict we each have within ourselves of choosing a life versus living a life. This greater question of finding oneself is a matter of acceptance and choice. Given the circumstances of our lives, how do we understand ourselves, our family and our friends, and the choices we make? Do we blindly go through life unaware of our actions and how they affect not only ourselves but others, as well? What role does our community, friendships and faith play in our decisions?

The Camino, by its nature, serves as the ultimate metaphor for life. Footsteps along a well-trodden path may be our guide, but do not shield us from the questions that most of our busy everyday lives prevent us at times from fully recognizing. The road offers very little to hide behind. The process of life is life along whichever road, path, Camino, or Way we find ourselves on. Our humanity toward ourselves and others, our history and our future is what defines us. Take the journey of life. Buen Camino.