There was nothing on TV last night. Nothing new there. In times like these we often end up looking through the on demand movies on our cable service. As we browsed though we stopped at The Way. It drew our attention because it stars Martin Sheen who also stars in The West Wing (the best TV show ever).
The amazon blurb says:
Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to France to collect the remains of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as ‘The Way of Saint James’.
Driven by his profound sadness and desire to understand his lost son, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage, leaving his California life behind.
Armed only with his son’s backpack and guidebook, he begins the 800km historical pilgrimage but soon discovers that he won’t be alone on this journey – he meets other pilgrims from around the world, all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives.
From the hardship experienced along “The Way” an unlikely group of misfits are bonded and Tom begins to learn the difference between “The life we live and the life we choose.”
The Way was filmed entirely in Spain and France along the actual Camino de Santiago.
This doesn’t even come close to doing the film justice. It’s a beautiful film about grief, hope, community and faith. It is inspiring, moving and insightful. I’ll write more about it soon but for now, go and buy it!
Look out for Rev John Humphrey’s “Letter from the moderator” in the Lent 2012 issue of SynNews… The Way features in that too!