The Way (2010) Reviews

• great piece of cinema

  wmconsidine2011-05-15

  I have looked forward to "the way" since first hearing about it. I heard interviews with Martin Sheen himself and a great double interview with Martin and Emilio on Irish radio. I did a part of the camino in 2009 and It was a life changing/enhancing experience for me so I couldn't wait to see how the film would deal with it. Yesterday I saw the film in the Screen cinema in College Green Dublin. The film is, in my opinion, very true to the camino experience. A previous reviewer trivialised it as "a road movie" and suggested "wizard of Oz" characterisation. The camino "road" has been travelled for over a thousand years. Long before "road movies" were even thought about and yes, any story of fellow travellers sharing their stories on a journey, can be similar to the "wizard of Oz" but I think Chaucers "Canterbury Tales" is probably the true origin of the species. The camino de Santiago in its reality, and in this film, is a wonderful kaleidoscopic confluence of humanity. Pilgrims seem to self-select for certain character traits such as eccentricity, other worldliness, joyfullness, adventurousness, hurt, curiosity etc. Tom's companions were all from the palette of characters I found on the camino. Tom himself was an accidental pilgrim and only at the end of the camino did he allow himself to fall in love with it like the others. Tom, the cynical skeptic, driven to put one foot in front of another as a way of dealing with the brokenness of his relationship with his son and the trauma of his sudden death, allows the distance required to allow viewers share in the journey of the Camino in a way that could not have been achieved by following four "ordinary" pilgrims, no matter how colourful. Tom was the "straight man", the foil, that allowed the full colours of all the other characters to shine through. I thought it was a brilliant piece of cinema. Ole!

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• It's not "The Way", it's "Our Own Way"

  msmoc2011-05-19

  This is surely Emilio Estevez's Masterwork, in the same way as was Costner's "Dances with Wolves". It is "The Quiet Epic"! The movie didn't require; Noise, CGI, Foul Language or Special Effects - all that it needed and got were; Across the Board Top Class Acting Performances and Brilliant Cinematography. Although, no longer a spring chicken, I spent over 2 hours completely engrossed in this film, alternating between tears and laughter. I found it was a movie made with such loving care that it encouraged, and enabled me, to share their experience and make my own life journey with them. My own emotions and life history became intermingled with theirs. I feel it was Emilio's intention for us all to take "Our Own Way". My main sadness is that so many people will be unable to see it at cinemas, as it has only been given a single weeks run to facilitate the usual glut of "So called Blockbusters". Movies like The Way need time to breathe, as "Word of Mouth" is the key to expanding Audience figures and the wider appreciation such a work deserves..

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• Understated and therefore very moving

  paulinewainwright2011-05-03

  This movie exceeded all expectations, which were already very high. All kudos to Emilio Estevez for an excellent screenplay and superb direction. The photography, too, was wonderful. I think this will go down as one of Martin Sheen's best ever performances. He underplays his role (due to Emilio's direction?) which makes it all the stronger. In fact, it's the understated quality of the whole film that makes it very moving. It never descends into sentimentality but you still feel the grief of Martin Sheen's character as he makes the pilgrimage his estranged dead son never completed. At the same time, there are a lot of funny moments, which lift it from becoming a depressing journey. The gradual coalescing of the four very different main characters into a unified group works very well. Each of them has a different reason for making the pilgrimage and, to begin with, they seem to have nothing in common, but it's still very believable when they start to relate to each other. Emilio and his father Martin have every reason to be very proud of this film. It works on every level.

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• wonderful film

  gareth-912011-05-14

  went to see this last night at 11.10pm, but cinema forgot to start the film, so it was 5 to midnight before we got going - with a little prompting. It makes me want to do el camino. Very touching. I cried twice and laughed, and towards the end was sitting with a huge grin on my face. The warmth between the characters was good, honest, authentic. It's also like having plans to do one thing, but you end up doing something quite different, that just grows. I could feel a loosening at the end of it, where feelings had shifted for people, there was a release for the characters that had happened in a very real way. Nothing grated, it was very gentle, but built up to a wave that carried me with it. Scenery is beautiful of course. An interesting bit with the gypsies in Spain that I found challenging. It brought me up as I believed the same stuff they assumed - I'd heard it so much: and it is interesting when I realised that what I've accepted as truth may just be prejudice. We all like a scapegoat to absolve ourselves, and to feel superior to other folks. Well done everyone involved with this. I think I will be buying a few copies of this to hand out. It makes me want to go, but it kind of makes me want to go alone to see who I meet on the way.

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• My 393rd Review: Treads Lightly But Very Nicely...

  intelearts2011-03-27

  This beautiful simple and involving film is one of the better films I've seen in the past couple of years. It does what the best of cinema can - it moves us, and reminds us that life is a journey full of chance encounters and that its not all serendipity, but we can walk on too. Matin Sheen and his son, Emilio Estevez, make a winning team here - the direction, though straightforward is, like Ron Howard, filled with memorable scenes and images that linger. Sheen himself is always good at taking us with him - his half-amused, half-bemused style suits this perfectly. As he travels on the old pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela to deal with tragic loss he meets and forms a group with three other pilgrims. All in all, the overall experience of watching this is simply pleasure - and like Danny Boyle's films, it seems simple but it is a complete experience. The Way is human, emotive, emotional, and sincere, and for this viewer a good journey.

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