The Way

Today at the Lay Ministry training day I went to we saw the movie The Way. I didn't realize it was on at the movie theaters at the moment and I would recommend you go and see it as it is a most inspiring film.

Martin Sheen plays Thomas Avery (Tom) who is an American ophthalmologist who goes to France following the death of his adult son, Daniel (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, a Catholic pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, also known as the Way of St. James. Tom's purpose is initially to retrieve his son's body and return home. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to take the historical journey on this path of pilgrims and so to walk the same ancient spiritual trail where his son had died and honor his son's desire to finish the journey.

What Tom doesn't plan on is the profound impact the journey will have on him and his "California Bubble Life". Inexperienced as a trekker, Tom soon discovers, while walking the Camino, that he will not be alone on this journey. On his journey, Tom meets other pilgrims (three in particular), from around the world, all broken, each with their own issues and looking for greater meaning in their lives. Along The Way, Tom discovers the meaning of one of the last things his son said (in a flashback) to his father. “You don’t choose a life Dad, you live one.” He reluctantly falls in with three other pilgrims in particular. Joost (Yorick van Wageningen) is an overweight man from Amsterdam who says he is walking the route to lose weight to get ready for his brother's wedding and so that his wife will desire him again. He is a warm extrovert who is the first to start walking with Tom. Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger) is a Canadian fleeing an abusive husband, who says she is walking the pilgrimage to quit smoking. Jack (James Nesbitt) is an Irish travel writer who when younger had desires to be a great author like Yeats or Joyce but never wrote the novel he dreamed of. He is the last to join the quartet and has been suffering from "writer's block." As the pilgrims travel the Camino, they occasionally meet and talk with other pilgrims — two Frenchmen, a young Italian and an elderly priest from New York named Father Jack.

From the unexpected and, oftentimes, amusing experiences along the way, this unlikely quartet of misfits creates an everlasting bond and Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again. Through Tom's unresolved relationship with his son, he discovers the difference between "the life we live and the life we choose"

The Way is a 2010 American drama film. It is a collaboration between Martin Sheen and his real-life son Emilio Estevez to honour the Camino de Santiago and promote the traditional pilgrimage. Saying he didn't want the film to appeal to only one demographic, Emilio Estevez called the film "pro-people, pro-life, not anti-anything."

"The Way" is a powerful and inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-changing and complicated world.