The Way - film review
The Way is a 2010 drama film directed and written by Emilio Estevez, it stars Martin Sheen as Thomas Avery, Deborah Kara Unger as Sarah Marie Sinclair, James Nesbitt as Jack Emerson Stanton and Yorick van Wageningen as Joost Michael de Witt.
The film was well received by both critics and the public, there is not enough public information about whether the film made a profit. It had a very staggered and limited release (2010 to 2013) at the box office, however, it looks to have grossed from the box office and initial DVD/Blu-ray, around twenty million dollars. The film was a small budget film, but it was not an indie film. Emilio Estevez himself said that he did not want a low budget film but wanted enough funds to show the pilgrimage and to tell the story properly. The run time is two hours and three minutes and the film is available on DVD/Blu-ray and on streaming sites.
The film was made to honour the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, known in English as Way of St. James. The story is intertwined with the pilgrimage and is about a father that loses his adult son, which leads to his journey on the pilgrimage. It is well shot and the film feels in parts as if you are joining the characters on their journey. The film uses the scenery of Spain excellently and the backdrop adds so much to the film. The characters are very well written and played by the actors, the director was very good at controlling the tempo of the film to ensure that you do not get bored or lose interest. It switches between light-hearted and powerful scenes seamlessly and the all the characters feel as they are meant to be there. The film is very heart warming and a joy to watch, it is very much worth watching, it tells many stories and there are many lines of dialogue that are truly meaningful about life.