This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 6, 2011 - El Camino de Santiago -- the Way of St. James -- is a 500-mile path from the Pyrenees of western France to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela near the seacoast of northwestern Spain. The bones of St. James the Apostle are said to be buried at the cathedral, and for more than 1,000 years Christian pilgrims have made the arduous trek to it across most of the width of Spain.
In recent years, the "Camino," which has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations, has grown in popularity and attracted a variety of hikers. Many of them say they are looking for some sort of spiritual, mental and/or physical renewal, not necessarily a religious one.
A few years ago, my wife and I visited western France; and the middle-age British couple who owned the house where we stayed were eagerly preparing to walk the Camino. Neither of them seemed particularly religious, at least not in the church-going way; I gathered they were looking forward to a healthful adventure that might revitalize their lives and their relationship.
In the engaging, heart-felt low-budget film "The Way," a stout, boisterous Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen) says he is making the walk to lose weight. A 40-something Canadian woman who is clenched with emotional pain (Deborah Karen Unger) says her goal is to quit smoking the cigarettes she puffs nervously day and night. A word-spewing Irishman (James Nesbitt) says he is hoping to walk his way out from under a writer's block. All three are strong, distinct characters, even if the Irishman starts out as a bit of a cliche. Each of them will be changed by the walk.
The main focus of the movie, however, is on emotionally bottled-up optometrist Tom Avery, who is played in a quietly powerful way by Martin Sheen. Tom is making the walk, at least in part, to honor and walk in the shoes of his son, who died in a blizzard near the beginning of the Camino. As Tom moves west, going where his son had planned to go, he chooses appropriate spots to scatter the son's ashes.
Sheen is a truly accomplished screen actor, one of the best of his generation. His every slight gesture and almost imperceptible facial movements tells us who his character is and what he is feeling -- watch Sheen's face in the scene early in the movie when he is ushered into a French morgue to identify a body that might be his son. His reaction is subtle, and emotionally complex, and wordless.
The son appears in a couple of flashbacks and occasionally is glimpsed as a sort of spirit guide -- these ghostly sightings are mercifully brief, and could well represent the father's tortured imagination.
Appropriately, the son is played by Emilio Estevez, whose father is Martin Sheen. Estevez also wrote and directed the film, with, one gathers, considerable prodding from the intensely Catholic father. The movie is not particularly profound, but it does carry a message without being pretentious about it. There are sentimental moments, but I found them mostly unobjectionable, perhaps because Estevez, on the whole, uses action and imagery rather than pointed dialogue to make his points.
The film has a clean, uncluttered feel as the pilgrims proceed westward to the sea, across rugged hills and dusty fields, through villages where the only place to sleep is the crowded dormitory of a hostel. Miscalculate the distance and you sleep beside the trail.
The cinematography, by Spaniard Juan Miguel Azpiroz, is spectacular, and even without its message of renewal and redemption, "The Way" could serve as a lively documentary about a long and purposeful walk through some of the most rustic and beautiful territory in Europe.
Opens Oct. 7
Harper Barnes, the author of Never Been A Time: The 1917 Race Riot That Sparked The Civil Rights Movement, is a special contributor to the Beacon.