Review of The Way (2010) by Manny C — 09 Dec 2011

You're in for a treat in The Way, a wonderful little movie from actor-director Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen, in a stirring performance. It's all about a spiritual journey, and ends up being a rather moving and thoughtful tale.

Sheen in Tom Avery, a ophthalmologist in California, and a widower with an estranged son, Daniel (Estevez). Daniel is incredibly nomadic, preferring spontaneity to stability. After Tom finds out Daniel has perished in a storm in the French Pyrenees, he immediately embarks on a trip to retrieve the body, but in the process discovers who is son really was.

Before his death Daniel began a pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, an 800-mile journey from the Pyrenees to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, also the burial place of St. James. But there are alternate motives for the journey besides searching for God.

As Tom makes the journey spreading his son's ashes, he refuses to be taken in by any spirituality. It's when Tom comes across three pilgrims, an emotionally fragile Canadian woman (Deborah Kara Unger), a Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen, hilarious) and an Irish writer (the wonderful James Nesbitt) who does all he can to get Tom to open up about his relationship with Daniel.

Unlike his plodding debut Bobby, Estevez goes for a lighter, subtler touch. The Way's focus is on his father, and Sheen delivers one of his greatest performances yet, revealing a man becoming familiar with feelings long suppressed.

It's a fantastic film.