Bless the Broken Road: A Review of Emilio Estevez’s “The Way”
"This much I know is true/That God blessed the broken road/That led me straight to you/Yes it did" - Rascal Flatts, “Bless the Broken Road”
In 2010, actor-filmmaker Emilio Estevez wrote and directed what was, in my humbled opinion, the best American film of that year. It was hopeful, poetic, moving and emotionally cathartic. Not only does it portray a father’s tragic loss of a son, it also serves as an esoteric journey towards spiritual reawakening and self-discovery.
That film was “The Way,” a beautifully produced gem that combines one man’s grief with the power of a redemptive journey that proved itself far more significant than its final destination.
Martin Sheen positively shines as Tom Avery, a California ophthalmologist grieving for the sudden death of his son Daniel (Estevez), killed during a brutal storm in the Pyrenees Mountains while walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela (The Way of Saint James), a Catholic pilgrimage spanning 500 miles across France and Northern Spain. Traveling to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to identify his son’s remains, Tom learns of the Camino pilgrimage and the discarnate wanderlust it holds for several hundred thousand pilgrims each year. And despite his age and lack of training, Tom makes the impulsive decision to continue Daniel’s journey himself carrying his son’s ashes and spreading them along the way.
Estevez purposely avoids producing an overtly beautiful looking film to instead make the scenery a distant and nearly unnoticeable backdrop, allowing Tom’s journey and its physical and spiritual challenges to take precedence. And it’s a journey Tom does not take alone. Along the way, others join Tom on his humanistic mission, including Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), the portly Dutchman; Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), the indignant, emotionally abused and nicotine-addicted Canadian divorcee on a quest for escape; and Jack (James Nesbitt), the loquacious Irish writer seeking release from paralyzing writer’s block.
It’s these four unlikely companions who wind up depending on one another throughout this arduous journey, taking time out to grouse, joke, philosophize, drink and rant — all the while forgiving and bonding with one another every step of the way. And it’s this atonement that is at the heart of Estevez’s film.
“The Way” is a brilliant, albeit arduously emotional travelogue; a thoughtful introspection on failed relationships between fathers and sons, and how regret can fester in the most tormenting of ways along the road towards redemption.
Despite its quiet, simplistic message, “The Way” inspires like few films do. Estevez has given us a heart-wrenching masterpiece.
