Week 44: The Way

Last weekend we saw The Way.  Never heard of it you say?  Well, neither had I until I was browsing through our options.  Let me tell ya, it's been a duddy couple weeks in movies and this was the only one that seemed worth going to.  This was released first in Spain then at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.  It came out a couple other places internationally before it hit here this October.  So this isn't your average American blockbuster.  And what a nice change of pace. 

Emilio Estevez wrote and directed this with a minor role in the movie.  The main character was Martin Sheen.  Everyone else was pretty much no namers. Martin Sheen played Tom, a guy who travels to Europe to retrieve the body of his son (played by Estevez) who died in an accident while embarking on a pilgrimage from France to Spain.  As he's there he decides to finish what his son started and take the pilgrimage himself.  (With his son's ashes in tow.)  On his journey he meets up with three other people who are making the trek for their own specific reasons. 

What I loved about this movie is it was so simple and honest.  There wasn't a lot of drama or unnecessary dialog.  Martin Sheen was really perfect in this role.  He was understated and believable.  The other characters were equally as good.  It was a thought provoking movie and to top it off there was some humor thrown in as well.  Really well done.

If you're looking for something off the beaten path this is the movie for you.  It might even make you want to drop everything and go "find" yourself in the European countryside. 

To Sum it up: Touching, funny, and inspires you to be a better person.