Walk this way

While I normally write about my trips or happenings here, I am now doing my first ever blog about a movie.  Makes it sound like I am a sellout huh?  Well, I just watched this movie called 'The Way' and maybe some of you already know about it because it is has been out since May, but I really liked it and thought some of you might too.

Starring Martin Sheen, it is about a father who is informed that his son has died in France during the Camino de Santiago - a pilgrimage that stretches across the north of Spain and France.  The father upon arrival decides to continue with his son's mission and does the walk himself, spreading his remains along the way.  Touching and entertaining, as the movie unfolds you get the opportunity to know the stone-faced grieving father along with the people he meets along the way, all walking the Camino for thier own personal reasons.  By the time they reach Santiago de Compostela, the end of the Camino, you are fully enveloped in thier lives and feel something swell up in your own heart as they each make thier entrance to the famous Cathedral marking the end of thier journey.

Here is a youtube preview:




Besides being a beautiful story, I think I identify with it as a travel movie for two reasons, one being that it is a movie about seeing another country, not just being a tourist in one.  Like is true on the Camino, the pilgrims stay in lodging houses that have rows and rows of beds and during the walk get to know real people from the towns where they stay and experience the places they pass through instead of just arriving on a tourist bus.  This is the type of travel I love and think it should be done more often.

Another reason I like the film as a travel story is that, drumroll please, the Basque Country appears in a huge portion of the movie!  Until maybe mid-way (like an hour in) all of the scenery is of Euskal Herria - both French and Spanish sides.  From Donibane Garazi to Pamplona there are great shots of rolling green hillsides that although are in different regions of the Basque Country than me, ring true to the scenic views of this gorgeous place I call home.

Impactful and enjoyable at the same time, I really enjoyed this trip along the Camino via this movie and think you might too.  The quote from the film that stuck with me the most is that of the dead son when he says 'you don't choose a life, you live one.'

Muxu!
Amanda