A Canterbury Tale: The Way

The Way is a new film by director Emilio Estevez. It is about a man who walks El Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James) when his somewhat estranged son dies doing the same.  El Camino is an old, established pilgrim's route leading to where St. James is believed to be buried.


American Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) sees his son Daniel (Estevez) off on his trip, but like many parents cannot help but worry about the life route Daniel has chosen for himself. Daniel feels there are more things to explore in the world than conventions like a college degree or boring job, and wants to experience life by traversing El Camino, an 800 km network of roads in France and Spain. When Tom gets notified that Daniel suffered a fatal accident, through conversations with a policeman (Tcheky Karyo) he becomes internally convinced to take this journey himself, and he intends to take his son along with him in the form of cremated ashes. We see that Tom finds this a bonding experience to help understand his dead son.

Along the trek he meets other pilgrims taking this journey for their own reasons: a jovial Dutchman who needs to lose weight, an cynical Canadienne, an Irishman with writer’s block who digs up Tom’s story and intends to write about it.  At first Tom is mum about his reasons for going on El Camino, but sees the many different reasons why there are so many pilgrims. Throughout, the foursome are wished "Buon Camino" by other pilgrims and townsfolk who welcome them, and one can see how open this experience is, not only for Tom, but for the world that crisscrosses paths.  They also meet a priest and a gypsy who both offer experiences and insights that round out Tom's soul search.  It appears the openness and kindness of strangers is something Tom has not initially invited but has come to accept and take to heart, and slowly, to reciprocate.

While the story is as expected and you know Tom is going to come to the right conclusion at the end, I found the film was strengthened by the pretty good camera work, which was not conventional but interesting to watch (cinematographer was Juan Miguel Azpiroz and art diretor was Victor Molero). The story can be compared to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales where each traveler has their own tale to tell.  Quality of acting and character types are varied but good, and I think every viewer will find something to like, as there is humor, drama, and tragedy, beautiful scenery and many human themes to identify with. Co-stars include Yorick van Wageningen, Debra Kara Unger and James Nesbitt as Tom's fellow pilgrims.