Camino Skies

This film follows a group of New Zealanders over a wide age range who are walking the approximately 800km journey along tracks, roads and even highways. They are determined, and make good company for us as viewers. You can imagine that changes in weather, and the sheer amount of walking makes us pleased that we are indeed watching them. As you would expect, various health issues come up, along with blisters and injuries, but the audience in the cinema are hopeful that all will reach the final destination. I do have one feature of the film that annoyed me. The cinematographer seemed to deliberately use shaky camerawork, in the belief that gave a more dramatic feel to the proceedings. Well, it didn't. Much of the film did not have shaky images, and those images were often very enjoyable. Pity. Overall though, a very interesting coverage, and not overlong.

I found this documentary very interesting because of the six characters and their unusual journey to Camino de Santiago. The background score and music adds life to the frames and highlights the emotions of each character. I found a few shots unnecessary, like where the characters are looking at the road and route etc. which simply established their journey but wasn't really required. I really liked the shots where people are on their way to camino and spend some time on the streets with the localities, that is interesting and kind of a cultural mix. Moreover, the way all the characters were unknown at the start but later the way they build their bonds with each other over the journey is so good to see. I found a lot of hidden learning in the entire documentary. It's a good watch for people who's life is tragic at the moment and would like a get away, join virtual journey of Camino :)

Filmed with real people (in a documentary style) from New Zealand in 2018 and released from 2019 onwards, it gives a down to earth view of the approximately 1 month plus 500 mile Camino di Santiago experience. If the Camino is something that is on your Bucket list this I would imagine would give you a realistic sense of what to expect in terms of the people and challenges you might meet, and is therefore useful viewing. One of the things I liked about it was that it allows the viewer to experience the scenery more than some other similar Camino related films.

On a slightly sad note, it was also filmed in one of the last good years of freedom. No Lockdowns, no masks, no virus fears, no Covid passports, just jump on a plane and go etc. Will we ever see those wonderful carefree times again? Almost worth watching just for that...