I guess we all have our favourite movies – you know the ones we’re able to watch time and time again without becoming bored with them. What’s your favourite? Let me know in the comments section at the end of this post. One of our favourites is without a doubt THE WAY – written, produced, directed and co-starring Emilio Estevez, with his father Martin Sheen in the lead role wonderfully supported by Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt and Yorick van Wageningen. Other extended family members of the Estevez clan get minor roles making it a real family affair.
Although the movie starts off in California, 95% of it is filmed on location in south west France and northern Spain. It’s worth watching for the scenery alone, but the main story line and the back stories of the characters that become apparent along the way, and indeed along THE WAY, is what makes me and my wife watch this movie on a regular basis.
If ever we need to be reminded about what’s good about life….on goes the DVD. It’s definitely a feel good movie – even though Estevez’s character is killed off very early on in an accident in the Pyrenees while hiking “The Way of St. James” – also known as the Camino de Santiago – from St Jean Pied de Port, France to it’s destination at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, the final resting place of the earthly remains of St James – one of the apostles of Jesus.
In the story, Sheen and Estevez – real life father and son – play father and son. The father being a successful dentist in California and the son breaking the news to his father that he no longer wants to pursue his doctorate at university but instead wants to experience life on the road, travelling the world. We can assume from earlier exchanges between the two that there is some friction between them and they haven’t seen eye to eye since the death of Estevez’s mother – Sheen’s wife some years earlier.
Sheen takes Estevez to the airport to see him off on his flight to Europe and there is still tension between them when they part. Sheen’s character says to his son something along the lines of “You may not think much of my life, but it’s the life I chose” – referring to his weekdays as a dentist and his weekends spent playing golf. His sons come back to this remark is “You don’t choose a life Dad, you live one” – meaning that there is a whole world out there to discover and to feel alive in. Jump forward a few weeks. Sheen, whilst on the golf course with his other Dr buddies receives a phone call from a police inspector in France who tells him that his son is dead. Killed in an accident. Sheen shocked, puts his business on hold, for a week, and sets off for France to bring back his sons body.
“So what’s so feel good about that?” I hear you ask. I am getting to it, really I am.
Sheen’s initial plan is to fly to France, identify the body and bring it straight back to the USA, but once there at the foot of the Pyrenees, at night in his hotel room going through his dead sons belongings, he has a sort of epiphany and decides instead to have his son cremated and to complete the hike on his sons behalf, taking the ashes along the way. He contacts his secretary at his practice and tells her he’s going to be a little longer and to delay all appointments for a month. This delay gets longer and longer as the movie progresses.
They filmed the movie over 40 consecutive days along the Way – with the movies characters walking along side regular people also completing the long hike. Sheen discreetly leaves little piles of his sons ashes at points along the 800 kilometre (500 mile) hike. It’s the things he sees and does along the way and the people he meets and interacts with….and the way his character softens and mellows that brings the feelgood factor. He has a major shift in attitude and about what’s important about life in general.
Apart from the main characters, the majority of the extras in the film are simply tourists and travelers out doing the hike for themselves. Sheen’s character is tested a number of times along the way especially when he almost loses his sons ashes….twice, but under very different circumstances. Has trouble with gypsies, almost drowns in a river and has serious doubts about his religious beliefs. He also spends a night in police cells. His patience is tested by his other supporting actors characters as they attempt to find out why it is that Sheen is doing the hike in the first place. But by the end, this ramshackle group of individuals, who would have never met in their “normal” lives become a tight band of friends.
That’s not a spoiler by the way. It’s how the story and characters develop that is so interesting and heart warming. The very end is also quite unexpected and very uplifting – (I think so anyhow). If you haven’t seen it yet, here is a trailer for the movie to whet your appetite.
And don’t forget to leave a comment and tell me what movie you can watch over and over without becoming tired of it. Thank you and goodbye until next time.
A Literary Bent 