A Hiking Movie— “The Way”

Want to see a movie with good in it? The other night I saw the new movie The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father Martin Sheen. I first heard about this movie from Danny, who writes This Hiking Life Blog. It’s a feel good movie that needs to be circulated and built by word of mouth.

“The way” means El Camino in Spanish, and the movie is about hikers (really walkers) following the El Camino trail in Spain. El Camino, also known as the St. James’ Way, is a five-hundred mile trail across northern Spain which has been walked by pilgrims for over 1000 years.

In the movie, Sheen’s son, played by his real-life son, Emilio, has died while walking the El Camino. The widowed Sheen travels to Spain to collect his only child. While there, Sheen decides to walk the Camino himself as a way to honor his son and to make some sense out of his own pampered life.

Don’t expect your typical thru-hike. The walkers carry good-sized packs and sticks, but along the way they are wined and dined and have beds to sleep in. Nevertheless, the movie is about a pilgrimage and shows several characters dealing with life. And there are moments that will look and feel familiar to any trail hiker.

The Way looks like it will continue to be a small independent movie. Only one theater was showing it in the greater Boston area, and I had to travel over thirty miles to see it! This is a shame. When one thinks of all the foolish stuff out there on other screens, hats off to Estevez for doing something honorable.

El Camino pictures from Internet public domain