Pilgrims seek higher meaning in ‘The Way’

Walk, drive, or sit on the couch to see the new movie “The Way,” but do so as a pilgrim — deliberately, intentionally, mindfully.

This understated film, which premiered in U.S. theaters last fall and will be released on DVD next month, stars Martin Sheen (President Bartlet in TV’S “The West Wing”) and was written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez.

The story is set along the ancient Christian pilgrimage route in Southern France and Northern Spain — El Camino de Santiago, or The Way of St. James.

From the earliest days of Christianity, believers have spoken of following Jesus on “the way.” In the Gospel of Mark, John the Baptist prepares “the way” for the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:3). New converts journey after Jesus on “the way” (Mark 10:52; Acts 9:2). Little surprise, then, that the historic Christian pilgrimages would be called trails, paths and ways.

Since its beginnings in the eighth century, millions have walked the 500-mile way to Santiago de Compostela, a medieval town in northwestern Spain. According to belief, the remains of the Apostle James are buried there beneath the altar of the Roman Catholic cathedral.

The pilgrimage has experienced a renaissance of interest since the mid-1980s. Each year, tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world strap on boots, backpacks and sleeping bags and head off down the trail that traverses scenic Spanish countryside, crosses modern superhighways, and meanders through stone -walled villages.

Why do people do this? Here

in the early 21st century, with automobile and Internet superhighways, with jumbo jets and luxury cruise liners, all available to transport us and our bulging suitcases with ease to wherever our imaginations prompt us to go, why do some people do this? Why opt to take a slow, deliberate and often pain-inducing walk over hundreds of miles of ancient and rocky terrain?

That’s the question “The Way” explores.

In the movie, Tom (Martin Sheen), an eye doctor from California, searches to overcome his grief for his son, Daniel (Emilio Estevez), who dies in a snowstorm at the beginning of a pilgrimage on The Camino. Tom scatters Daniel’s ashes along the path as he walks.

Along the way, Tom encounters fellow travelers: an acerbic Canadian woman who wants to quit smoking; an egocentric Irishman who struggles with writer’s block; and a garrulous Dutchman whose laughter and recreational drug use mask his poor self-image.

This contemporary klatch of pilgrims, like their literary predecessors in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” pursue answers to the same questions that pilgrims have been asking for generations.

Since we get only one walk through this earthly life, as Daniel says in the movie, “How do we live the life that we have been given?” “What really matters?” “What is worth reaching for, and what should we leave behind?” “Who will we travel with along this way?”

Ultimately, “How do we know and honor God?”

These are the things that Sheen, a devout Roman Catholic, and Estevez call the “higher fruits.” Their movie invites us to reach for them.

Some may find the movie too “new-agey.” Spiritual but not religious. For others this may be the reason that it appeals. Honestly, I had my reservations.

But the movie won me over. First , by its sense of humor. Tom and his companions do not take themselves too seriously, even if the stakes are high. They quip. They tease one another into a traveling community of trust as they slowly reveal themselves to one another.

Even more, the movie appeals by its honest portrayal of human beings questing together for something beyond themselves — reconciliation, hospitality, friendship, a vocation, God. These are the things that deep down we hunger for as human beings. These are the things that pilgrims discover along the way.

Religious pilgrims have always sought these deeper values, whether we journey halfway around the world to find them or walk around the block to our neighborhood church or synagogue or mosque.

“The Way” gently and wisely invites us to leave the cumber behind and walk toward what and who really matters.

Dr. Lee Ramsey is a professor of pastoral care and preaching at Memphis Theological Seminary.