Plot
Tom is an American doctor who goes to France following the death of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, also known as the Way of St. James. Tom's purpose is initially to retrieve his son's body. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the same ancient spiritual trail where his son died in order to understand his son better. While walking The Camino, Tom meets others from around the world (three in particular), all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives.
During his travels, Tom discovers the meaning of one of the last things his son said (in a flashback) to his father: that there is a difference between "the life we live and the life we choose."
Cast
Martin Sheen as Thomas "Tom" Avery
Deborah Kara Unger as Sarah
James Nesbitt as Jack
Yorick van Wageningen as Joost
Emilio Estevez as Daniel Avery
Production
Development
The movie was inspired by Emilio Estevez's own son, Taylor. It started in 2003 as a project when Taylor, at the time 19 years old, and Martin Sheen, whose The West Wing was in hiatus, took part in the pilgrimage route. Taylor, who served as an associate producer on the film, drove the length of the Camino with his grandfather when on the way he fell in love and met the woman who would become his wife, thus, the Camino holding special meaning to them. Since that trip a series of discussions started between Sheen and his son for a movie about the Camino de Santiago. Sheen originally suggested it be a low-budget documentary, but Estevez was not interested in such a small project, wanting instead a bigger experience.
Estevez also found inspiration in his vineyard, Casa Dumetz, the place where he wrote much of the dialogue for the film. Exploring the universal themes of loss, community and faith, he saw parallels with the characters of the film, The Wizard of Oz. The script took six months to get a first draft.
Filming
Filming started on 21 September 2009 and it took 40 days there after. They walked between 300 and 350 kilometres during filming. Estevez had a very small crew and shot with available light; night time sequences were filmed under candle and fire light. Considering that the Camino is very special to the local people they felt great pressure to get the film right.
Casting
Sheen originally suggested Michael Douglas or Mel Gibson for the lead role, but Estevez wanted and wrote the main character specifically for his dad. The film contains a pageant of different characters, apart from the main players, everyone seen on screen are real pilgrims from all over the world, the least being from America and Canada. One episode in the film involves a group of actual Roma Gypsies from Burgos.
Release
The Way was marketed on college campuses, largely through a word-of-mouth campaign. "We don’t have a lot of money to do a big $40 million P.& A.," Estevez said, talking about his marketing — print and advertising — budget.
The Way was released in Spain before anywhere else in the world. It premiered on September 10, 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The premiere in Malta on February 28, 2011 provided benefit to a tiny Maltese organization, the Pope John XXIII Peace Lab, in Ħal Far which provides shelter to asylum seekers. The shelter had never asked for funding since it was established in 1971.
It was released in the UK on May 13, and was released in the United States on October 7, 2011. Estevez has said that in advance of the movie's U.S. opening, he and his father plan to take a 30-day, 30-city cross-country promotion bus trip from Los Angeles to New York. The film will be released on DVD in February 2012.
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