Rating:  

Starring: Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, Yorick van Wageningen, Tcheky Karyo, Spencer Garret, Antonio Gil. ___________________________
Director: Emilio Estevez
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 121 Minutes
Release Date: October 7, 2011
Home Video Release Date: TBD
Box Office: $1.7 Million ___________________________

Filmax Entertainment, Icon Entertainment International, Elixir Films, ARC Entertainment, and Producers Distribution Agency.

Written by: Emilio Estevez.

“The Way”, directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father Martin Sheen in the leading role, is clearly a labor of love for Estevez, and a film that is easy to admire for what it means to those involved. A film gently questioning and probing around the notion of personal faith versus institutionalized religion, “The Way” is a well-made and nice film. While it has some frustrating flaws, “The Way” is made good with a resonating and lasting performance from Sheen, in one of his best performances of recent memory.

As a wealthy and flourishing ophthalmologist in Los Angeles, Sheen plays Tom Avery and one afternoon is out golfing with some colleagues when a sudden and unexpected cell phone call changes his world forever. His free spirited son, Daniel (Estevez), has died – falling victim to a storm in the Pyrenees as he attempted to walk the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage through Spain, also known as The Way of St. James. Stunned, Tom must immediately travel to France to identify and arrange the formalities in handling Daniel’s burial.

Opting for cremation, Tom decides to take Daniel’s ashes back to America and have a burial back home. Plans change however when Tom begins going through Daniel’s backpack and sorting through its contents. Soon, Daniel becomes a different person to Tom and it is this desire to learn more about who Daniel was that forces Tom to remain in France and put his practice on hold. The next morning, Tom, almost impulsively, sets out to walk with his son’s ashes along the Camino de Santiago, honoring his son’s mission and hoping to complete the journey his son was never able to complete.

Reserved and keeping his emotions very close to the chest, Tom has little to no interest of meeting or interacting with anyone on his walk, but those plans change rather quickly. Early on his journey, Tom encounters the affable and overly friendly Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a Dutchman from Amsterdam who claims to be walking the Camino to lose weight for his brother’s wedding and to rekindle passion lost with his wife. Constantly annoyed by Joost’s young puppy dog personality, Tom silently allows Joost to hang with him, offering little more than a couple of word answers and little in the way of conversation. As Tom and Joost encounter more and more people, Joost makes friends with virtually everyone and Tom thinks of nothing more aggravating than having to make small talk…on this trip…at this time…in these moments.

Along the way, Tom loses and reconnects with Joost and a de facto foursome is created with Canadian divorcee Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger) and travelogue writer and journalist, Jack (James Nesbitt), who is battling a wicked case of writer’s block and ventured from his Ireland home to find inspiration. As gruff and cold as Tom is, eventually he begins to cautiously share a bit more with each companion, reserving the most personal of details even when learning of personal occurrences which have led to these individuals walking The Way.

Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, “The Way” is a deeply personal film for him and the journey Estevez seems to be making on film directly parallels to that of his Tom Avery. The film looks beautiful, with Estevez allowing the narrative to step aside in certain moments to allow viewers to take in the beauty found along the Camino. The cinematography by Juan Miguel Azpiroz is successful in placing you on that path with Sheen and his fellow actors. Along with Sheen’s terrific performance, the companions all have moments to call their own. While Deborah Kara Unger fails to deliver the emotional connection her character needs to really stick with us, the aforementioned Yorick van Wageningen and James Nesbitt are great, Nesbitt’s finest moment coming unexpectedly at the end of the Camino walk. The problems start to emerge however the more the film goes forward.

Estevez has a rather thin story to tell over 115 minutes and as Tom begins to spend more and more time with his companions, the film seems stuck in a rut. Much of the middle portions of “The Way” consist of people trying to share and talk with Tom, Tom dismissing them with a comment here and there, and then Tom being prodded and lectured about how he should open up more. Eventually, Tom stumbles into a connection with each fellow traveler, but at times, he is so condescending and distant, I kept wondering why these folks would want to keep walking with him in the first place. Sheen’s performance is strong and effective, but I could only imagine that as Joost, Sarah, and Jack were working through their issues, the last thing they would ever truly want to do is keep trying to get Tom to open up. The challenge in awakening Tom’s pain and sadness seems easy and convenient and eventually, it is hard to discern just what Joost, Sarah, and Jack must have been thinking on their way back home, because they sacrificed so much of their pilgrimage for one man’s own faithful walk.

While the film does carry a message of sacrifice and giving of self for a greater good, the religious and faith-based elements within the film are not imposing or intimidating. Where the film buckles and cracks comes in the fact that it simply sticks around a bit too long, apexing at about the 90 minute mark, only to press on with another 20-25 minutes.

And yet, despite all these shortcomings and Estevez struggling to find a focused narrative with his screenplay, I cannot condemn a film so curious and seeking out matters of personal faith and conviction and the conundrum of what drives us to be good and giving of self. I only wish that Estevez could have tightened up his script and also his film to deliver a bigger and more substantial impact.

“The Way” can be work to get through, but it is a heartfelt and impassioned story that clearly means the world to Estevez, Martin Sheen, and those who helped bring the self-financed production to the screen. “The Way” does not judge or condemn and it really tries hard to stay out of the religious debate that content such as this can so easily provoke. Watching it you get the sense that unlike their cinematic counterparts, Tom and Daniel, Martin and Emilio found new connections with one another and a deeper understanding of their respective faiths in themselves, their religion, and within their lives.

Ultimately, I think what I appreciate most about “The Way” is that while a journey of faith may have been made off screen, on screen Emilio Estevez does not pontificate or preach about the journey he thinks we are supposed to take. Like those countless people who take the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago, the journey and its purpose is undefined, with any personal meaning left to be determined by that of a singular individual and not a community.

Should I See It?

YES

Heartfelt and well-intentioned, “The Way” is hard to not at least like on a basic level. While not spineless, the film is meaty enough to deliver a thoughtful message on personal faith without preaching or shoving a certain way of thinking down viewers’ throats.

Emilio Estevez relies on his talented cinematographer and cast to make the film have some affecting moments. While his screenplay struggles to stay on an efficient pace, the film is never a bore to watch – a notable distinction.

Martin Sheen is terrific and obviously at his finest in delivering a memorable character for a labor of love project for his son.

NO

Overly long, the kindness may turn to boredom and the flaws in Estevez’s script really start to emerge once the film continually runs through its formula of Tom talks with person, person tries to connect with Tom, and Tom grumbles off and walks away.

The reality is that some people feel that the film’s open-ended view of faith and conviction is a detriment, wishing the film was more direct and bold in espousing a stronger message of religious beliefs and ideologies.

Pilgrimages, soul-searching journeys – if this gives you a bad vibe, or if you tend to not want to have religious themes present in the films you watch, then you will likely want to look elsewhere.