The Way
(2010)Drama, written and directed by actor Emilio Estevez, about a group of people walking The Camino – a Christian pilgrimage route to Galicia, Spain. Stars Estevez's dad, Martin Sheen (The Departed).... More
Tom (Sheen) is an American doctor who trips to France following the death of his adult son (Estevez) who died during a storm while walking to the Cathedral of Santiage de Compostela in Spain – a pilgrimage known as The Camino or The Way of St. James. Travelling to retrieve the body, Tom decides to take the same route as his son to deal with his grief. On the way, he meets and travels with others from around the world.Hide
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Directed by Emilio Estevez
Starring Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, Yorick Van Wageningen, Tchéky Karyo, Spencer Garrett
Written by Emilio Estevez
On Demand, DVD & Blu-Ray
Available from 2 providers
Flicks Review
BY Liam Maguren Flicks Writer
Emilio Estevez’s career as a writer-director has yet to bloom into something worth noticing, with his previous film Bobby getting a general “yeah… nah…” response. Teaming up with his father Martin Sheen, Estevez seems to have found some stable ground with this road movie, effectively showing how a simple journey, more specifically the El Camino de Santiago, can open the way to inner enlightenment.... More
Sheen’s performance is superbly subdued, bringing real depth to a character that was maybe a tad underwritten. Along the way, he runs into a number of side characters ranging from interesting to annoyingly ostentatious. We warm to them eventually, largely thanks to the interaction between one another.
A big drawback is the film’s lack of conflict. Any quarrel between the travellers hardly ever goes beyond a mild irritation while Sheen’s character, Tom, is so closed up for most of the walk that we barely get to witness his inner turmoil. The one scene where he does rip into his companions provides some remedy for this.
The film is also a little longer than it needs to be, suffering from some noticeable pacing dips in the middle. Despite this, The Way is a serene experience that prefers to take you by the hand rather than drag you by the foot.Hide
The Peoples' Reviews
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The Way
BY Wice superstar
BY Ken-Burns superstar
Saw it with my dad who's 80 and as a parent of 2 boys this was an emotional family experience. Emilio and his dad obviously work well together so this would so be worth seeing again
BY Weds_Loafers superstar
This is a great film with some interesting background things going on. It is a father/son story and the star of the movie (Martin Sheen) is the father in real life of the son in the movie who, incidentally, is also the writer and producer (Emilio Estevez).
Father and son are estranged and when son dies on the first day of... More this walk, his father decides to complete it and scatter his ashes along the way. The film is rounded off with some great characters who Sheen meets along the way and becomes a story of developing camaraderie -- a modern Canterbury Tales.
Well worth watching. 4 stars from us.Hide
The Press Reviews
82%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Essentially, The Way starts out as "Eat Pray Love" and takes a long, surprising trip toward becoming David Lynch's "The Straight Story." And that's a longer trip than a mere monthlong trek across Spain. Full Review
It's a sweet and sincere family pilgrimage, even if a little too long and obvious. Audiences seeking uplift will find it here. Full Review
Gentle, likable and profoundly touching, it makes you want to dig out the hiking boots and make the same journey. Full Review
There's a contemplative loveliness to The Way, an affecting personal project both for Emilio Estevez, who wrote, directed, and plays a small role, and for his father, Martin Sheen. Full Review
An earnest film, its heart always in the right place, but it's severely under dramatized. Full Review
Estevez treats the drama with a straight-faced, utterly earnest approach with dual respect for the material and the audience's awareness of how it can go wrong. By playing it straight, The Way never goes off the deep end. Full Review
The beauty of the movie, in fact, is that Mr. Estevez does not make explicit what any of them find, beyond friendship. He lets these four fine actors convey that true personal transformations are not announced with fanfare, but happen internally. Full Review
Estevez keeps his touch light, with a minimum of pedantry. The Way is really a gift from this son to his father. Sheen, gradually revealing a man painfully getting reacquainted with long buried feelings, who gives the film its bruised heart. Full Review
Since when did walking become a spectator sport? Give Mr Sheen his due though – he invests a long journey with heart and sole. Full Review
Represents exactly the type of chicken-soup project that inspires once-a-year ticketbuyers to leave their homes and seek out a good movie -- the sort without sex, drugs or swearing. Bring an Oprah-like endorsement onboard, and they've got it made. Full Review
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