Synopsis: The Way is Emilio Estevez’s(Writer and Director) unique story of Thomas Avery.
“Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. Rather than return home, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son’s desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesn’t plan on is the profound impact the journey will have on him and his “California Bubble Life”. Inexperienced as a trekker, Tom soon discovers that he will not be alone on this journey. On his journey, Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world, each with their own issues and looking for greater meaning in their lives”1
1. Technical Excellence 6/10 Stars
When it comes to technical excellence The Way is far from extraordinary. Although it received a nomination for its adaptation of Emilio Estevez’s book, it was a rather common screenplay with, according to my opinion, a week ending that left you longing for some sort of final explanation. The music (Tyler Bates) was solid and featured some rather good montage music including a song from the talented band Coldplay. The Acting (Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger ) was overall very genuine and the characters had a good depth and arc in their stories. The roles were not very demanding so it is difficult to say that any of their performances really stood out. And yet they did the characters justice and did a very good job telling the story. The Cinematography was above averaged but suffered from what seemed to be poor lighting on many of the scenes. But what it lacked in cinematography it made up for in Editing. With several great transitions and careful cutting the editor (Raul Davalos) created the perfect balance of pacing and brought the story to life. Overall the technical aspects were just above average.
2. Worldview 4/10 Stars
The worldview of The Way is very Catholic in nature. Even though the characters are essentially Atheistic and hold to Secular Humanistic ideas, the journey is a Catholic tradition and reveals much of the beliefs of the Catholic religion. For instance at one point on their journey they deliver these stones to a pile at the foot of a cross. And Tom says something to the effect. “Lord count this token of my pilgrimage as a good deed so that at the judgement day my good deeds will outweigh my bad ones.” It was a longer speech than that, but that was the gist of it. Most Catholics believe in this idea of works based faith which is completely incompatible with the Bible and true Christianity. The movie also talks about the idea of suffering and being poor in order to be proper pilgrims. As far as I can tell, the Bible never calls a believer to suffer and be poor. Rather God seeks to bless His children with joy and riches and abundance. Just read the Psalms and proverbs and you will see a very different view from the suffering saint. There are many other references that are Catholic that you should be weary of including some brief conversations about Miracles and the saints especially James.
On the actual characters worldviews you can see a Secular Humanist approach. None of them believe in God, although Tom is an ex-Catholic. They swear, smoke and drink like people of the world. In fact almost every other scene includes alcohol or smoking. Although there is nothing in the Bible that condemns the drinking of alcohol and is often praiseworthy of it, it does warn against the abuses of alcohol. And in this movie there are a few abuses of alcohol which end Tom up in jail. I will say this though, that in context it is rather negative towards his abuse of the alcohol.
There are, however, some very interesting statements that suggest a Christian worldview. And I would argue that any movie is based off of truths that can be found in the Bible. Because logic and reason only exist in a world that based on a perfect, inerrant God. One of the positive elements in the movie is the discipline of children. In a culture saturated with the idea that any kind of punishment is abuse, this was a breath of fresh air. It is shown that by discipline Tom has grown to have a healthy attitude towards women when it comes to not hitting them. And that a culture can redeem itself through discipline wrong and setting a good example by doing what is right.
There are various statements that are scattered throughout the movie that provide interesting insight to life and a skewed perception of life. “Religion has nothing to do with this, nothing at all.” This statement by a gypsy is very interesting because it assumes that an action can be a-religious or without religion. Most Christians would hold that statement is untrue. It was said well by Paul “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” That statement assumes that you are either doing it for God or something else. Either way it’s religious. For if you are doing it for God then you are acting within the Christian religion. If you are doing it for man you are clearly acting within the religion of humanism. And if you are doing it for the collective spirit of mankind you are acting within a pagan religion. So to say that an action is not religious seems to be an incorrect statement. “Our Children they are the very best and the very worst of us.” This is another quote from the gypsy. This quote rings true. Children will indeed take after their parents. It is a great reminder to parents and anyone of influence to make sure that they are being not just good or positive role models, but the best that they can be through the power of Christ.
3. Content 4/10 stars
This movie suffers from a common message about parents and children. And that is that the parent doesn’t know much of anything about life and has unrealistic expectation of the child. And that the child is free and unshackled to follow the heart and is experiencing the best of life. This message is so prevalent in society that it’s no wonder we have such a rebellious epidemic. And movies like this one are not helping the cause.
The movie in general is surprisingly clean when it comes to explicit sexual and violent content. It does have certain implicit sexual content when it suggests that some of the characters are only wearing robes and in a scene where you assume that they are covering for each other when they are relieving themselves on the side of the trail. The thing to watch out for is their use of language. Several times the take the name of the Lord in vain, which is the worst language one can use. And on numerous occasions they flippantly throw out a cuss word.
Conclusion:
Overall I would say that this movie was a waste of my time. It’s not the worst movie you will find out there. But for the few positive elements there is a lot of garbage to sort through. I would recommend looking for better more redemptive works of art and entertainment. But if you’re looking for an interesting Catholic/Secular/Humanist movie with an ok storyline then maybe this is the movie for you.
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