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Is 'The Way' an accurate depiction of the Camino?

'The Way' is a 2010 film staring Martin Sheen and directed by his son Emilio Estervez. It is about Tom (Sheen) who goes to Saint Jean Pied du Port to recover the body of his estranged son after he died on the first day walking on the Camino. Tom then decides to walk the Camino, scattering the ashes of his son as he goes. As he walks he makes friends with three other pilgrims: Joost from Amsterdam (Yorick van Wageningen), Sarah from Canada (Deborah Kara Unger) and Jack from Ireland (James Nesbitt). Together they walk to Santiago and then finish in Muxia.



How far though is this film an accurate representation of the Camino experience?





 The camaraderie that Tom experiences is something that is to be found on the Camino – the way that you meet fellow pilgrims and just start to walk with them is accurate in my experience, Pilgrims do quickly make friends and do just meet up and walk together for the rest of their Camino. There is a removal of barriers on the Camino so that no-one cares what country you are from or what your job or age is, you are all pilgrims and therefore share enough in common to be friends.


 Spain’s landscape is shown very well – its beauty is clear as is its variety as you walk along the Camino.


 The food of the Camino is also shown (although I have never seen pilgrims be allowed to completely prepare a meal, I have seen them assist the hospiteleros though) but those meals (just a very few of the Pilgrim Menus) that are vile are not shown at all.


 The historic buildings of the Camino is seen but not discussed whereas it is made clear that the Camino is an ancient pilgrim trail.


 Some people on the Camino do walk for faith and some do not. Tom is shown as a lapsed catholic who may have re-found his faith by the end of the film and the Priest is shown walking hoping for a miracle as Pilgrims in Mediaeval times did. The other three of our Pilgrims do not walk with faith at all (so ¾ Pilgrims walk with no Christian faith which may be accurate).



The generosity of those on the Camino is shown – Tom helps one of the other pilgrims when they have something in their eye and Joost is willing to share his food with Tom (and his drugs, that isn’t something that I have ever seen happen on Camino though).



Walking becomes very important to the group of Pilgrims as it does to those who are on Camino – all but Tom are certain that they will stop in Santiago and yet continue to Muxia.



However there are parts that are not accurate – the way that the bags are lifted make it obvious that there is nothing in them. It would have been easy surely to add a bit of weight to them?



Injuries, be they blisters are something more serious, are common on Camino and yet this is missed out, there is a brief discussion about the ‘difficulties of the Way’ but these are not shown.



The characters do not wear technical walking clothes as the large majority of Pilgrims do – jeans are worn which dry slowly and are uncomfortable to wear when wet and are heavy, I have met one Pilgrim who took jeans on Camino with him thinking that he would wear them at night but he soon gave them away to a hospitelero rather than carry them.



Overall the experience of the Camino is, I feel, seen through rose-tinted glasses with difficulties ignored in favour of beauty.



Does anyone have any other points that I have missed? If so add them into the comments.

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