Saturday evening the wife and I went to see The Way with some good friends. This film is about an American ophthalmologist, Tom (Martin Sheen), who seems to be semi-estranged from his son, Daniel (Emilio Estevez), who has quit his pursuit of a doctorate degree and is traveling the world. Tom thinks Daniel is wasting his life. Daniel thinks Tom is not living his.
One day Tom gets a call from France saying that his son has died in an accident. Daniel had begun walking the El camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage path from a town in southern France over the Pyrenees into northwestern Spain. We are not told exactly how Daniel dies but Tom travels to Europe to bring back the body. He receives all of Daniel’s possessions in a backpack and while going through them he decides he will finish the path for Daniel. He informs the authorities he wants his son cremated and sets out the next day with Daniel’s ashes in a box.
Very soon he encounters the spot where Daniel died and leaves some of his ashes there. He continues to leave a small amount of ashes at different places along the trail. The walk becomes a metaphor for life: the important thing is who you meet on the way. Tom encounters many people but makes most of the journey in the company of Jack, an Irish journalist; Joost, a dope-smoking but lovable Dutchman (“it’s Turkish!”); and a cynical Canadian woman named Sarah. The camaraderie they share is enjoyable to watch. When Tom get drunk and shoots off his mouth, his friends do not abandon him.
The fellowship they enjoy is the best part of the film. One of the most poignant scenes occurs when they come across a luxury hotel. Having slept outside or in crowded hostels the whole trip, Tom offers to spring for a night in the lap of luxury for everyone. We see each of them in their respective rooms enjoying the amenities but before long there is a knock at Tom’s door. It is Sarah who comes in and plops herself down on Tom’s chair, picks up his TV remote, and starts flipping through channels. Tom no more than sits down when there is another knock. It is Joost with a couple of bottles of wine. Shortly thereafter, Jack appears. We see the four of them, each with their own room but crowded into one, laughing and talking and enjoying their wine. They have come to prefer one another’s company even to the luxuries afforded by the hotel.
When I started writing this I was going to give the film a B. It was thought-provoking but disappointing in that I came to no real conclusions about it. The ending was unsatisfactory in that no one seemed to be changed by their journey. Sarah was going to quit smoking and indeed laid her cigarettes down at that statue of St. James in Santiago. A short time later, we see her smoking again. Joost, a big bear of a man, had been looking to lose weight so he could fit into his old suit for his brother’s wedding. After a profound act of contrition at the Cathedral, he just winds up declaring he will get a new suit that fits him. Jack was never in it for change. He was just writing for his travel magazine and taking notes for a book he was hoping to write. But then, as I wrote the previous paragraph, I got the little insight about who you live life with. It seemed so appropriate that we saw it with the couple we did.
I cannot tell if Tom changed or not although the final scene indicates he probably did. Did he just give up on the American dream and take up Daniel’s dream instead—to travel the world? It seems like it. He is out living life, meeting new people, and living it up with old friends.
Grade: A-
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