Why the Movie 'The Way' Appeals to Those Who Walk Camino de Santiago

The moving film is loved by people who plan to walk the 500-mile route in Spain

Selfie by author walking Camino

After I walked 500 miles in Spain, I took care of Sally

During the day, I stayed with Sally in a little dark apartment. It was often still and silent, and the curtains were closed. I didn’t know how much time she had. I felt like a runner on a block — I wanted to run, to run into the light and the air. To escape. Sally was dying.

I sat inside on a footstool, seeing the scattered bits of sunlight that peeked in. Tiny bits of dust floated through the light. I was trapped, unable to leave.

In fact, I could leave, but no one was there for her. Her family knew she was in rough shape, but as it is, no one wanted to attend her. I didn’t want to either, but I did. I felt guilty when my heart raced, anxious with despair and feeling so stuck.

I walked ten feet to the tiny kitchen and poured myself Diet Coke, forcing myself to breathe and slow myself down.

When she was awake, I rubbed lemon and frankincense oils into her feet, diluted with coconut. She loved the smell.

“I’m gross, aren’t I?” she said. The skin on her feet and legs came off in pieces, and she knew it. If I took care of her, she would live longer. I didn’t want to lose her. I couldn’t save her.

“I’ll miss you so much,” she said, “You’re my best friend. I love you.” Even now, I can hear her rich, deep voice. She spoke quietly and meant her words. Black-velvet-smooth words from my gal Sal. Her Native American roots gave her high cheekbones and deep-set eyes. Beautiful friend. She loved the earth, the trees, and all living things. I looked her in the eyes and knew her. She knew me.

I tried not to seem bothered by the mess of her body that was so obviously dying.

It’s hard to care for dying people, especially if you love them. I had walked the Camino, though. If I could walk 500 miles across the Iberian Peninsula, I could do just about anything.

A year before Sally died, I’d walked Camino Frances, a 500-mile pilgrimage. Sally had told me about it years before. She loved anything artistic or spiritual, and although she talked a lot, I didn’t always listen well.

I wish I had her words flowing over me now, the torrent of ideas and laughter.

Back then, I visited Sally, listened with half an ear, and drove home to prep lessons for my day of teaching at high school. I was a person of action. Always moving, always planning. When I wanted something, I went after it hard. I always have.

Sally got by — sometimes just barely

She lived in a different world, a world of hopes and dreams that rarely came to fruition. Sally didn’t come from money. She came from a poor place, a barely-making-do family life. Her brother, deep into drugs, murdered a neighbor. She struggled to escape her family’s legacy.

In time, she became a popular beautician and owned her own shop. Her backyard was a garden of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Red cherry tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes grew from pots. Purple wisteria from a patio frame enclosed the outside area in lavender blooms. She created beauty.

So, Sally’s the friend who turned me on to the movie “The Way.” It didn’t motivate me to walk the Camino de Santiago, but in the six months before I flew to Spain, I watched it half a dozen times., I don’t know that “The Way’ would appeal to everyone, but I know it’s motivated many viewers to walk the Camino.

Here’s why the movie “The Way” appeals to people

It’s about loss. We’ve all lost someone, and the agony is universal. We get it. But likewise, we want to find our way back to hope again, and this movie offers it.

In “The Way,” a father loses his son — his son who was just beginning to walk the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage in Spain. Many pilgrimage routes exist, but the son planned to walk the Camino Frances — the French route. When the father, played by Martin Sheen, shows up to collect his son’s ashes, he picks up his boy’s backpack and belongings. He decides to go in his son’s place.

Camino Frances begins in Southern France, in St. Jean Pied De Port

That’s not the only place you can start walking the route, of course, but it’s the traditional start.

The long walk proceeds over the Pyrenees Mountains, in a grueling long day. When I first watched the movie, I had tickets for Spain. I had big plans to walk all 500 miles, and I did, too.

Watching the movie — town by town — I saw places I would visit. And my excitement was tremendous. I dreamed, I walked, and I got ready to go on my own journey. My parents had both died, and I needed to walk off my grief.

In the movie “The Way,” written by Emilio Estevez — Martin Sheen’s son — the father walks the entire 500-mile route, dealing with his son’s accidental death in the Pyrenees Mountains.

Along the way, he meets an interesting cast of characters — friends who have their own burdens and problems. One fellow wants to lose weight; another woman wants to quit smoking, for example.

Each person is walking for a reason.

Without giving too much of the film away, I’ll note that the saying ‘Wherever you go, there you are” occurred to me as I viewed the film. It’s not possible to run from troubles. You must go through them, not around them.

In this movie, the characters grow and change — and I think that’s the hallmark of a journey like the Camino de Santiago. Viewing “The Way” always gives me hope.

It reminds me that no matter how dark the night, the sun will rise. And then, I’ll lace my boots and get on the trail.

I recommend “The Way” for anyone interested in walking The Camino de Santiago in Spain. There are many pilgrimage routes, but the movie’s focus is on Camino Frances.