Review of The Way (2010) by Bruno C — 19 Aug 2012

I expected this to me more spoon-fed, cheesy and a bit shallow...surprisingly it's not. A little uneven in places, but well done mixing light-heartening moments between strangers and the seriousness of loosing one's son.

...moreover a nice introspective film and light character study ensemble piece. I'd usually go for a darker tone with this type of film...but I know most people don't go for that and was maybe best in terms of direction for this film.

Well done with using actors that fit the roles (American actors for American roles, Canadian actress for Canadian role, Dutchman for a Dutch role, Irishman for an Irish character, Spaniards for the Spanish roles.

..maybe even a Gypsy for a Gypsy role?), a little hokey to have a bit overweight Emilio Estevez appear as an apparition along the camino a Santiago but Martin Sheen came off well as a grumpy, grieving American (showing off his American colors from time to time, but nothing over the top nor too diminished).

Maybe the message got lost of what the Camino was all about for Sheen's character by the end (well all the characters really if one's mind wanders) but overall a very enjoyable road-movie on foot, good cinematography, good ensemble, decent direction and intelligent script.

Loved seeing Burgos and Santiago de Compostela, two of my highlights when I traveled around the Iberian peninsula many years ago...I yearn to do the Camino sometime in the future to revisit these places.

Oh and thank you for including a Nick Drake song :D (though I would've picked something other than Pink Moon :P).