“You don’t choose a life, you live
one.” This particular quote stuck with me the most as I watched The
Way, a
spiritual movie starring Martin Sheen. It was said by Daniel, son of
the film's protagonist, Tom.
I found this movie to be oddly inspiring, beautiful, and very spiritual. In a nutshell, it captures the story of a father, going on a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile trek from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Tom, though not a very religious man, is transformed by this journey that was started by his son, who ventured out to take this pilgrimage against his father's wishes.
Tom, who is a fairly well-off doctor, travels to France in order to identify and decide what to do with the remains of his deceased son, whom was killed during a sea incident. Daniel was just beginning the Camino de Santiago, and his father decides to finish it for him. Along the way, Tom meets new people and begins a journey of self-discovery and transformation.
Upon recovery of Daniel's body, Tom sees the shell symbol on his son's backpack and is told that his son desired to travel along the Camino de Compostela, but never made it. Tom then chooses to cremate Daniel's body and bring it along with him on the journey. As the movie progresses, Tom then sprinkles parts of Daniel's ashes along the trail. In this sense, it is spiritual – Tom wants his son to experience the trail, and to be a part of what he wanted to do: sightsee.
I found this movie to be oddly inspiring, beautiful, and very spiritual. In a nutshell, it captures the story of a father, going on a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile trek from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Tom, though not a very religious man, is transformed by this journey that was started by his son, who ventured out to take this pilgrimage against his father's wishes.
Tom, who is a fairly well-off doctor, travels to France in order to identify and decide what to do with the remains of his deceased son, whom was killed during a sea incident. Daniel was just beginning the Camino de Santiago, and his father decides to finish it for him. Along the way, Tom meets new people and begins a journey of self-discovery and transformation.
Upon recovery of Daniel's body, Tom sees the shell symbol on his son's backpack and is told that his son desired to travel along the Camino de Compostela, but never made it. Tom then chooses to cremate Daniel's body and bring it along with him on the journey. As the movie progresses, Tom then sprinkles parts of Daniel's ashes along the trail. In this sense, it is spiritual – Tom wants his son to experience the trail, and to be a part of what he wanted to do: sightsee.
One of the things that I found the most striking about
this film was the reoccurring idea that the pilgrimage was not
intended to be religious. In the film, it was stated that “religion
as nothing to do with this”, and that the journey was “never
about quitting these things... but you knew that anyways”. The
point of the pilgrimage, therefore, is purely one of a
self-discovering journey and the process of transformation.
What I gathered the most from it is the parallel this
story has to all of us and our lives. If you view it at a large
scale, it is similar to our lives – the Camino de Compostela is
like a person's lifetime. We spend our entire lives on a journey of
self-discovery and transformation, only to die at the end. A 'True
Pilgrimage', in my mind, would be life itself, and therefore the
process of dying, or experiencing death.
When Daniel tells his dad that “you don't choose your
life, you live one”, it is similar to saying that each step you
make in your life counts – there is no room for regret and just go
with what you feel. One thing the movie captures well is the fact
that moments cannot be recaptured like photographs, but rather we as
people must learn to experience it
ourselves. I'm sure if we had gone on this long journey, we would've
changed and experienced transformation as well.
In the movie, the characters often question what this
“True Pilgrimage” is, and by the end of the film, you are left
with no last words, no explanations - just your own thoughts.
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