| The Way | |
|---|---|
 Film Poster | |
| Directed by | Emilio Estevez |
| Written by | Emilio Estevez |
| Produced by | David Alexanian Emilio Estevez |
| Starring | Martin Sheen Deborah Kara Unger James Nesbitt Yorick van Wageningen Emilio Estevez Ángela Molina |
| Cinematography | Juan Miguel Azpiroz |
| Edited by | Raúl Dávalos |
| Music by | Tyler Bates |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Icon Entertainment International (World-wide) Producers Distribution Agency (United States) Alta Films (Spain)[1] |
Release dates | |
Running time | 123 minutes[1][3][4] |
| Countries | United States Spain |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $13.9 million (theatrical) $7,3 million (home market)[5][6] |
The Way is a 2010drama film directed, produced and written byEmilio Estevez, who stars alongside his fatherMartin Sheen.Deborah Kara Unger,James Nesbitt, andYorick van Wageningen also star in the film. In it, Martin Sheen's character walks theCamino de Santiago, a traditional pilgrimage route in France, Portugal and Spain.[7][8]
Thomas Avery is an American ophthalmologist fromVentura, California, who goes toFrance following the death of his estranged adult son, Daniel, killed in thePyrenees during a storm while walking theCamino de Santiago (theWay of St. James), a Christian pilgrimage route to the Cathedral ofSantiago de Compostela inGalicia, Spain. Tom's purpose is initially to retrieve his son's body. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the ancient spiritual trail where his son died, taking Daniel's ashes with him.
While walking theCamino, Tom meets other people, all looking for greater meaning in their lives. He reluctantly falls in with three other pilgrims in particular. Joost is an overweight man fromAmsterdam who says he is walking the route to lose weight to get ready for his brother's wedding and also so that his wife will desire him again. He is a friendly extrovert who is the first to start walking with Tom. Sarah is a Canadian fleeing an abusive husband, who says she is walking the pilgrimage to quit smoking. Jack is an Irish travel writer who when younger had desires to be a great author likeWilliam Butler Yeats orJames Joyce but never wrote the novel he dreamed of. He is the last to join the quartet and has been suffering from "writer's block". As the pilgrims travel theCamino, they occasionally meet and talk with other pilgrims—two Frenchmen, a young Italian, and Father Frank, an elderly priest from New York. Tom occasionally has visions of Daniel alive and smiling among other people. Tom starts out the journey being cold to his fellow pilgrims, but over the course of their journey he eventually opens up to them.
On the pilgrimage, the group experiences challenges, such as when a youngRomani steals Tom's backpack containing his son's ashes. Although the thief escapes, his father drags him back to Tom to return the pack, with embarrassed apologies and an offer in compensation to attend a Romani street party in the evening.
After the group arrives atSantiago de Compostela, Tom is ultimately accompanied toMuxía by the other three members. There, he scatters the remainder of Daniel's ashes in the Atlantic Ocean.
With Daniel's backpack on his back, Tom is shown happily setting out on another journey, this time inMorocco.
The film was inspired by Emilio Estevez's son, Taylor.[9] The inspiration for the project happened in 2003. Taylor, at the time 19 years old, and Sheen, whoseTV seriesThe West Wing was onhiatus, traveled the pilgrimage route. Taylor, who served as an associate producer on the film, had driven the length of theCamino with his grandfather. On the way, he met the woman who would become his wife; thus, theCamino held special meaning for him. After the trip, a series of discussions started between Sheen and his son for a movie about theCamino de Santiago.[10][11][12] Sheen originally suggested it be a low-budget documentary, but Estevez was not interested in such a small project, wanting instead a bigger experience.[12]
Estevez also found inspiration in his vineyard, Casa Dumetz, where he wrote much of the dialogue for the film.[13] Exploring the themes of loss, community, and faith, he saw parallels with the characters of the filmThe Wizard of Oz (1939).[12] The script took six months to get a first draft.[7]
The story is also based on selected stories fromJack Hitt's bookOff the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain (1994).[14]
Filming started on 21 September 2009 and took 40 days. The production company and actors walked between 300 and 350 kilometers during filming. Estevez had a very small crew and shot with available light; night-time sequences were filmed by candle and firelight. Considering theCamino is special to local people on the route, the filmmakers felt great pressure to get the details right.[7]
According to aChristian Broadcasting Network interview, a key scene almost did not happen. With church leadership opposed to allowing the crew to shoot inside the famous cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Estevez says he took a leap of faith and asked everyone on set to pray for access. "And it worked", claimed Sheen. The crew was given permission just 48 hours before they were scheduled to shoot the scenes, which they felt were critical to the film.[15]
Sheen originally suggestedMichael Douglas orMel Gibson for the lead role, but Estevez had written the main character's role specifically for his father.[12][16] Aside from the main actors, those seen on-screen are real pilgrims from all over the world. One episode in the film involves a group of actualRomani people fromBurgos.[7]
The Way was marketed largely via a word-of-mouth campaign. "We don’t have a lot of money to do a big $40 millionP. & A.", Estevez said, talking about his marketing print-and-advertising budget.[13]
The Way was presented in September 2010 at the2010 Toronto International Film Festival,[17] then first commercially released inSpain on 19 November 2010. TheMaltese premiere on February 28, 2011[18] benefited a tiny Maltese organization, thePope John XXIII Peace Lab ofĦal Far, which provides shelter toasylum seekers. The shelter, established in 1971, had not sought the funding.[9]
The film was released in theUnited Kingdom on May 13, 2011[12] and in theUnited States on October 7, 2011.[10][19] Estevez and Sheen took a promotional bus tour in promotion of the film across the United States and through some parts ofCanada.[8]
The film was not theatrically released inFrance until September 25, 2013.[20]
The film was released on DVD in February 2012.[10]
The Way was theatrically re-released in the U.S. in over 800 theaters on May 16, 2023. While promoting the rerelease throughout the country, following the film,Rick Steves interviewed both Estevez and Sheen who discussed the making of the film.[21]
The film took in $110,418 in its U.S. opening weekend; as of February 2012, it had made $4,430,765 in the US, and $7,451,541 in other countries.
Ultimately, the theatrical performance reached a gross of $13,916,152 and the home market performance an additional gross of $7,281,803, thus the film reached a total gross of $21,197,955.[5][6]
The film has received a rating of 82% on the review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes based on a sample of 95 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10.[22] The consensus description is: "It may be a little too deliberately paced for more impatient viewers, butThe Way is a worthy effort from writer/director Emilio Estevez, balancing heartfelt emotion with clear-eyed drama that resists cheap sentiment."Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100 based on 28 critics.[23]
Peter Travers ofRolling Stone magazine gave the film three out of four,[24] while Andrew Schenker ofSlant Magazine gave it one out of four.[25] Eric Kohn ofIndiewire gave the film a "B+" rating, commenting that "Estevez's narrative is dominated by master shots of the landscape capturing Tom and his pals wandering through the wilderness and small villages, exploring ancient cathedrals and local traditions."[26] Kirk Honeycutt ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote a mixed review, stating: "Emilio Estevez'sThe Way is an earnest film, its heart always in the right place, but it's severely under dramatized."[27] Sheri Linden ofLos Angeles Times noted thatThe Way is more low-key, cohesive, and personal than Estevez's preceding filmBobby.[28]
After trying for two years, Estevez regained the rights toThe Way in 2023 and arranged for a rerelease of the film nationwide on May 16, 2023 on about 800 screens throughFathom Events. This led to start progress on a new related project as Sheen and Estevez "[had] been talking about doing a follow up, a sequel of sorts". Sheen said he was "up for it" and Estevez said he had come up with the idea of "what it would be".[29] In February 2024, it was announced thatThe Way: Chapter 2 was in pre-production with Estevez writing and directing. The film will be produced by E2 Films and distributed worldwide byGoodfellas. The plot is set a decade later and involves Tom, now a surgeon working forDoctors Without Borders inNigeria, receiving a copy of Jack's bestselling book about their experiences, in which a disturbing secret is revealed. Enraged, Tom seeks out Jack and reunites with Joost as they journey throughAmsterdam,Dublin,Brussels andFrance before returning toSpain and the Camino.[30]
