The Way (film)
Encyclopedia
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 pilgrimage
. Not wanting to appeal to one demographic, Emilio Estevez called the film "pro people, pro life — not anti — anything."
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. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the same ancient spiritual trail where his son died in order to understand his son better.
While walking The Camino, Tom meets others from around the world, all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives. He reluctantly falls in with three other pilgrims in particular. Joost (Yorick van Wageningen
) is a large overweight Dutchman 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 and is marked by an unfailing kindness to all he meets. Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger
) is a Canadian divorcee who has fled an abusive marriage and the resulting loss of a child through abortion who says she is walking the pilgrimage to quit smoking. She is the second to join Tom and belittles him as a defense mechanism. "Jack from Ireland" (James Nesbitt
) is a travel writer from Ireland who when younger had desires to be the next Yeats or Joyce but grew accustomed to the lucrative field of travel writing. He is the last to join the quartet and has been suffering from writer's block.
The pilgrims travel through the breathtaking scenery of the Camino. Occasionally, they rejoin some other pilgrims they already met, two Frenchmen, a young Italian man, and an elderly priest from New York, Father Jack. They continually meet kindness in others, sometimes in surprising instances from unexpected sources including hotel keepers and Spanish Gypsies.
Tom and the others all have moments of crisis and catharsis that make them drop their masks and really befriend each other. Through the pilgrimage, Tom discovers the meaning of one of the last things his son said (in a flashback) to his father: that there is a difference between "the life we live and the life we choose." The others find the same at the end of their journey. By the end of the trip, the four have come to find the love, charity, and Christian community within themselves and each other.
, took part in the pilgrimage route. Taylor, who served as an associate producer on the film, drove the length of the Camino with his grandfather when on the way he fell in love and met the woman who would become his wife, thus, the Camino holding special meaning to them. Since that trip a series of discussions started between Sheen and his son for a movie about the Camino de Santiago. Sheen originally suggested it be a low-budget documentary
, but Estevez was not interested in such a small project, wanting instead a bigger experience.
Estevez also found inspiration in his vineyard
, Casa Dumetz, the place where he wrote much of the dialogue for the film. Exploring the universal themes of loss, community and faith, he saw parallels
with the characters of the film, The Wizard of Oz
. The script took six months to get a first draft.
According to a CBN
.com interview, a key scene almost didn't happen. With church leadership against allowing the crew to shoot inside a grand cathedral, Estevez took a leap of faith and asked everyone on set to pray for access. "And it worked," recalls Martin Sheen. They were finally given permission just 48 hours before they were scheduled to film these critical scenes.
or Mel Gibson
for the lead role, but Estevez wanted and wrote the main character specifically for his dad. The film contains a pageant of different characters, apart from the main players, everyone seen on screen are real pilgrims
from all over the world, the least being from America
and Canada
. One episode in the film involves a group of actual Roma Gypsies from Burgos
.
The Way was released in Spain
before anywhere else in the world. It premiered on September 10, 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
. The premiere in Malta on February 28, 2011 provided benefit to a tiny Maltese
organization, the Pope John XXIII
Peace Lab, in Ħal Far which provides shelter to asylum seekers. The shelter had never asked for funding since it was established in 1971.
It was released in the UK on May 13, and was released in the United States on October 7, 2011. Estevez and Sheen took a promotional bus tour in promotion of the film across the United States and through some parts of Canada. The film will be released on DVD in February 2012.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
. It is a collaboration between Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
and his real life son Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
, to honour the Camino de Santiago and promote pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
. Not wanting to appeal to one demographic, Emilio Estevez called the film "pro people, pro life — not anti — anything."
Plot
Thomas Avery is an American doctor who goes to France following the death of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, a ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
in Galicia, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, also known as the Way of St. James
Way of St. James
The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....
. Tom's purpose is initially to retrieve his son's body. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the same ancient spiritual trail where his son died in order to understand his son better.
While walking The Camino, Tom meets others from around the world, all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives. He reluctantly falls in with three other pilgrims in particular. Joost (Yorick van Wageningen
Yorick van Wageningen
Yorick van Wageningen is a Dutch actor.After acting in several Dutch plays, movies, and television series, van Wageningen was asked to come to Hollywood to appear in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. Due to problems with his visa, he was unable to work on that movie in the United States....
) is a large overweight Dutchman 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 and is marked by an unfailing kindness to all he meets. Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger
Deborah Kara Unger
Deborah Kara Unger is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films Crash , The Game , The Hurricane , White Noise , Silent Hill and 88 Minutes...
) is a Canadian divorcee who has fled an abusive marriage and the resulting loss of a child through abortion who says she is walking the pilgrimage to quit smoking. She is the second to join Tom and belittles him as a defense mechanism. "Jack from Ireland" (James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
) is a travel writer from Ireland who when younger had desires to be the next Yeats or Joyce but grew accustomed to the lucrative field of travel writing. He is the last to join the quartet and has been suffering from writer's block.
The pilgrims travel through the breathtaking scenery of the Camino. Occasionally, they rejoin some other pilgrims they already met, two Frenchmen, a young Italian man, and an elderly priest from New York, Father Jack. They continually meet kindness in others, sometimes in surprising instances from unexpected sources including hotel keepers and Spanish Gypsies.
Tom and the others all have moments of crisis and catharsis that make them drop their masks and really befriend each other. Through the pilgrimage, Tom discovers the meaning of one of the last things his son said (in a flashback) to his father: that there is a difference between "the life we live and the life we choose." The others find the same at the end of their journey. By the end of the trip, the four have come to find the love, charity, and Christian community within themselves and each other.
Cast
- Martin SheenMartin SheenRamón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
as Thomas "Tom" Avery - Deborah Kara UngerDeborah Kara UngerDeborah Kara Unger is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films Crash , The Game , The Hurricane , White Noise , Silent Hill and 88 Minutes...
as Sarah - James NesbittJames NesbittJames Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
as Jack - Yorick van WageningenYorick van WageningenYorick van Wageningen is a Dutch actor.After acting in several Dutch plays, movies, and television series, van Wageningen was asked to come to Hollywood to appear in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. Due to problems with his visa, he was unable to work on that movie in the United States....
as Joost - Emilio EstevezEmilio EstevezEmilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
as Daniel Avery
Development
The film was inspired by Emilio Estevez's own son, Taylor. It started in 2003 as a project when Taylor, at the time 19 years old, and Martin Sheen, whose The West Wing was in hiatusHiatus
Hiatus may refer to:*Recess *Hiatus, a small difference in pitch between two musical tones *Hiatus , a phonological term referring to the lack of a consonant separating two vowels in separate syllables, as in co-operation*Hiatus , a break of several weeks or more in television scheduling*Hiatus...
, took part in the pilgrimage route. Taylor, who served as an associate producer on the film, drove the length of the Camino with his grandfather when on the way he fell in love and met the woman who would become his wife, thus, the Camino holding special meaning to them. Since that trip a series of discussions started between Sheen and his son for a movie about the Camino de Santiago. Sheen originally suggested it be a low-budget documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
, but Estevez was not interested in such a small project, wanting instead a bigger experience.
Estevez also found inspiration in his vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
, Casa Dumetz, the place where he wrote much of the dialogue for the film. Exploring the universal themes of loss, community and faith, he saw parallels
Parallelism (grammar)
In grammar, parallelism is a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses. The application of parallelism in sentence construction can sometimes improve writing style clearness and readability. Parallelism may also be known as parallel structure or parallel construction...
with the characters of the film, The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
. The script took six months to get a first draft.
Filming
Filming started on 21 September 2009 and took 40 days. They walked between 300 and 350 kilometres during filming. Estevez had a very small crew and shot with available light; night time sequences were filmed under candle and fire light. Considering that the Camino is very special to the local people they felt great pressure to get the film right.According to a CBN
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
.com interview, a key scene almost didn't happen. With church leadership against allowing the crew to shoot inside a grand cathedral, Estevez took a leap of faith and asked everyone on set to pray for access. "And it worked," recalls Martin Sheen. They were finally given permission just 48 hours before they were scheduled to film these critical scenes.
Casting
Sheen originally suggested Michael DouglasMichael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
or Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
for the lead role, but Estevez wanted and wrote the main character specifically for his dad. The film contains a pageant of different characters, apart from the main players, everyone seen on screen are real pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
from all over the world, the least being from America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. One episode in the film involves a group of actual Roma Gypsies from Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
.
Release
The Way was marketed on college campuses, largely through a word-of-mouth campaign. "We don’t have a lot of money to do a big $40 million P.& A.," Estevez said, talking about his marketing — print and advertising — budget.The Way was released in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
before anywhere else in the world. It premiered on September 10, 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
2010 Toronto International Film Festival
The 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 9 and September 19, 2010. The opening night gala presented Score: A Hockey Musical, a Canadian comedy-drama musical film. Last Night closed the festival on September 19.2010 TIFF included...
. The premiere in Malta on February 28, 2011 provided benefit to a tiny Maltese
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
organization, the Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
Peace Lab, in Ħal Far which provides shelter to asylum seekers. The shelter had never asked for funding since it was established in 1971.
It was released in the UK on May 13, and was released in the United States on October 7, 2011. Estevez and Sheen took a promotional bus tour in promotion of the film across the United States and through some parts of Canada. The film will be released on DVD in February 2012.