The Way, My Way

I wanted to watch this film because my teenage son was thinking of doing a gap year and maybe walking the Camino?

To start with I did not even realise it was an Australian film and was impressed that it was (while still having a great international flavour).

I watched the film again because I liked it. The cinematography is spectacular and the scenery is beautiful. I am so impressed that most of the "actors" were the the real people who walked the track and did not even speak English as a first language!

The film tackles serious issues too such as dealing with grief, guilt, forgiveness, suicide, marital conflict and childhood sexual assault in a way that allows people to speak for themselves.

The beginning of the movie really made me feel it wasn't a good movie so I didn't want to watch but I actually held on to it. And it turned out to be a brilliant movie. Blimey, it's an underrated movie. So Bill wants to walk almost 800kms to Camino. What is his journey like? He gets to know different people from different countries, he gets to know why people choose to walk 800 kms to Camino. They sometimes live under the same roof, drinking together , getting to know each other, and exchanging ideas or life experiences. It's also a journey of cultural refreshments. In addition to this, for Bill and other walkers, the journey strengthens their mental and physical conditions, and helps them overcome different challenges/difficulties. That's sth that a journey is all about. Getting to your destination is not the point, enjoying what your journey has to offer, you don't give up easily, is the point. For Bill, he has seen a lot of places, he has met a lot of different "pilgrims", he enjoys the journey, but most importantly, it's a path to his own redemption.

I've watched all the Camino movies and documentaries because they are all hero's journeys and I'm a sucker for that. I wanted to like this film, particularly since it is Australian. The photography and soundtrack were beautiful. Unfortunately, the lead was extremely unlikeable until halfway through. Nothing happened to show the audience he was worth caring about, and he lacked depth both in his behaviour and internal dialogue. He had an epiphany towards the end of the movie that was unfortunately unbelievable, because the insights he gained were not hinted at before. I can't help but compare his character to Martin Sheen's in The Way, a similar man; headstrong, but Sheen had warmth and charisma up the yin yang.

This movie makes me appreciate The Way even more than I did before. The four main characters seem like facsimiles of those in The Way (three men and a woman, one portly man who wasn't appreciated in relationship because of his appearance) but with none of the gravitas. Go watch The Way instead.

This film is obviously divisive.

There are those who complain it didn't show the scenery, or had bad acting, or unlikeable lead. It's unfortunate none of those things is what the film was about. It could have focused on the scenery, showing every beautiful vista or building along the way. It could have used all actors rather than some actual pilgrims and real people along the way. It could have had a very likeable person as lead. And the movie would have failed its objective.

The reason the movie has an unlikeable lead is because that's who he was - a self-absorbed, arrogant, difficult person (did you miss one of the last scenes with him on the phone to his wife?).

The story focused almost exclusively on his character, and how he 'grew'. And I believe it did a pretty good job of that, even down to him questioning if he was ready to complete the journey when he was within spitting distance of the end.

He basically had an epiphany towards the end - thus meeting the objective of growth.

There were some parts that could have been done better. But overall a good movie.

Having read the above reviews, it seems most reviewers don't have a clue what the movie is about. I don't know what they were expecting but for me it summed up the camino experience almost exactly.

The journey of self-discovery, the casual conversations with strangers that often reveal things one would not dream about talking about to anyone back home, the on again/off again nature of the friendships that are formed, the often hard physical and mental stress and at the end, that while it has certainly helped you to know yourself better, it has not resulted in any 'Road to Damascus' like revelations.

I was particularly impressed by the fact that many of the characters played themselves, they were not actors but the actual people the main character met on his camino and agreed to appear in the movie. ( for those who don't know the movie is based on the book of the same name about the author/ filmmakers own experiences on the camino)

I thought it was excellent and I certainly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the camino, or who just wants to see a good film about the human condition.