The Way

Watched an interesting movie last night called The Way. It stars Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, a father/son team. Until I saw them side by side, I had no idea they were related. And, when I mentioned to my lovely wife how much the guy playing Sheen’s son looked like Sheen, she clued me in. And she pointed out that Charlie Sheen (who’s not in this movie) is also Martin Sheen’s son. I had known Chuck and Marty were related (the common sir name I suppose) but I always thought Charlie was Martin’s little brother. O well, that’s what I get for marrying above my IQ, or what she gets for marrying below hers. I’m told everyone else in the world already knew these things about the Sheens and Estevezes. Being unique was nice while it lasted.

Turns out Martin Sheen was born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez. He changed it when he started acting because he didn’t want to be confused with all the other famous Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévezes. Confusing eh? Perhaps you can see why I don’t really pay close attention to these sorts of things. Yet somehow I do know that Judy Garland’s original name was Frances Gumm? William Wrigley Jr. made her change it because he didn’t want her confused with a new product he was launching in France that he was planning to call “France’s Gum”. I just made that up, but it sounds almost true, in a Hollywood sort of way. You know, based on an actual incident that happened, or might have happened. I wonder if Wrigley had an original name. I wonder if this is how urban legends get started.

Anyway, about the movie. Daniel Avery (Emilio Estevez), dies as he is beginning to walk the Camino Trail. His father, Thomas Avery (Martin Sheen), who is a very conservative ophthalmologist from California, flies to France to bring Daniel’s body home and spontaneously decides to complete his son’s journey. The story is about the people he picks up with along the way, the changes he and they undergo in the course of their respective pilgrimages, and the deep questions a pilgrimage raises about life and meaning and all that.

The Camino de Santiago de Compostela, known in English as The Way of St James, is a network of pilgrimage routes that lead to the Cathedral of Santiago (Saint James’ traditional burial place) in north-western Spain. The most popular route is the Camino Francés which stretches 780 km, beginning in the north of France. During the Middle Ages, from the 9th to the 16th century, up to two million people a year (about 5,000 a day) walked the trails on pilgrimage.

Today there is a resurgence of interest in making this journey. Tens of thousands make the pilgrimage every year. I suppose it has to do with the malaise of modernity, the search for spiritual meaning, or the need to meet a big challenge before we die. And, come to think of it, these may have always been the reasons people did it.

Next post I’ll share why I’d like to do something like this. But what do you think? Why do people do this? Would you like to do it? Why or why not?