Movie Review: “The Way”

The film "The Way" is a powerful and inspirational story regarding friends, family, and the challenges that they face while living in changing times. This movie was released in 2010 and featured Martin Sheen as the main character. Emilio Estevez is credited with writing and producing the movie. The plot of this movie follows a group of people led by Thomas Avery, an American who is heading to France because of his son’s death. His son was making a pilgrimage to Camino when he met his death that was caused by a storm. The route the characters take is considered as a pilgrimage route followed by Catholics when making a pilgrimage to Camino located in Garcia, Spain. Thus, at the beginning of Thomas’s journey, it is evident that he is focused on retrieving the body of his dead son. However, his intentions change along the way as he opts to walk the antique religious track to pay homage to his son. On his way to the Cathedral, Thomas meets different people at different times that are making a pilgrimage in search of greater meanings concerning their livelihood. The people that Thomas meets represent all walks of life, and he ends up making friends with three of these people as they walk the Camino. The three include Joost from Amsterdam, Deborah from Canada, and Jack from Ireland. All these three people had certain reasons that led them to walk the Camino. Notably, the movie reflects the ups and downs that people usually go through in their daily lives and teaches the viewers several lessons. The movie’s success can be attributed to its plot among other reasons. The writer and director of the movie have adopted a good plot that relates to human life as will be analyzed in this movie review paper.

This paper analyzes the plot of the movie “The Way”. One of the strengths of the movie is the characters used in its plot. The movie presents different characters that come from various backgrounds. The main character, Tomas, is from America and is headed to France to retrieve his dead son. Another character that joins Tom is known as Joost, an overweight from Amsterdam. Sarah is also another character used in the plot of the movie and she originates from Canada. There is also James who is an Irishman and other pilgrims, Frenchmen. During the pilgrimage, Tom also meets an Italian adolescent and an aged celebrant christened Father Frank. During the trip, a young boy from Rome steals Thomas’s backpack, which his father gives back to Tom. The inclusion of all these characters earns scores for the movie as it depicts people from different backgrounds. Notably, the world is fast becoming a global village and people can travel and live where they want. This means that the inclusion of all these characters was an attempt by the writer and producer, to show that the movie appeals to people from different parts of the world as they can also decide to walk the Camino.

As the characters walk along the pilgrimage route, it is evident that all of them do have certain personal problems. The main character was affected by the death of his son who he was aiming to retrieve from the Pyrenees where he was killed in a storm. However, he decides to change his course and walk the Camino to pay respect to his dead son. Another hero, Joost, is motivated to walk the Camino by the fact that he had become overweight and his wife does not desire him anymore. Jack is motivated to walk the Camino to find the material to write about to be positively received by critics. He also desires to become a great writer like Yeats. Sarah flees from an abusive husband and also hopes to quit smoking during the walk. The characterization is great since it helps the writer and producer of the movie to demonstrate how one’s problems can lead him/her to vital decisions. Estevez tries to show the viewer how people decide to do different things to find purpose in life. In this case, all the main characters have opted to walk the Camino as they believe it would help them overcome their afflictions.

The movie is also successful because of the inclusion of a drama in the plot. This takes place after all the pilgrims have arrived at the site of the pilgrimage and then a boy from the Romani descent snatches Thomas’ backpack and runs away. However, the boy’s father returns Thomas's backpack and makes the boy apologize for his mischief (Goodwyn, 2013). This can be considered as suspense followed by relief because the entire movie is focused on one issue of the people making a pilgrimage. The movie can be commended for this scene in its plot because it changes the theme of the plot for a while and makes a viewer wonder what Thomas will do after losing his backpack or if the boy will be caught. The scene also introduces another topic to the movie as the father of the Romani boy apologizes and offers Thomas to join them for a street party (Goodwyn, 2013).

The movie’s director has filmed real pilgrims from different parts of the world; one scene in the movie involves a group of real Romani pilgrims. Critics of the movie indicate that it is a good effort from the director/ producer. However, they note that it might make the film slow-paced for impatient viewers, but they add that it is a worthy effort from the producer as he managed to incorporate heartfelt emotion and clear-eyed drama.

Conclusion

In conclusion, "The Way" is an inspirational story that touches upon the themes of friendship, family, and the challenges people face in life. The plot of this movie follows a group of people led by Thomas Avery. The director of the movie has successfully depicted different people that come from various backgrounds. The main character is from America and is headed to France to retrieve his dead son. Another character, Joost, is overweight from Amsterdam. Also, the author has incorporated an unexpected turn into the plot. This takes place when all the pilgrims arrive at the site of the pilgrimage and a boy from the Romani descent snatches Thomas’ backpack and runs away. Generally, "The Way" is an inspiring movie that speaks of the usual problems and events that take place in human lives.