On Sunday May 7, I drove from seminary housing to our Lutheridge house, and I listened to Rick Steves' radio program that airs on NPR. When I first heard the episode, I thought it was an old one--why else would they be talking about the movie, The Way? I was delighted to learn that the movie was being re-released.
It was only for one day, May 16, one show at my local movie theatre, only being shown at about 1,000 movie theatres across the country. I made myself a note, but I didn't buy a ticket, because much can happen. Happily, I was able to get to the theatre and see the movie: I showed up at 6:20 p.m. and bought one of the last 5 remaining tickets. I also treated myself to a large popcorn and a large soda, because I so rarely go to see a movie in a theatre, and I wanted the full treatment.
I hadn't seen the movie before, but I had meant to. And these days, it seems unlikely I will get to Spain and hike the Camino de Santiago, so experiencing it this way had enormous appeal. It was just what I hoped, and also not exactly what I expected.
There were lovely views of villages and landscapes. It gave me a sense of how it feels to walk the Camino, although I did notice that no one sweated much and no one had bloody feet. While the pilgrims didn't always get along, I didn't have the kind of worry I might have had with a more traditional Hollywood treatment of people on a hike, fears of violence and rape.
I was waiting for epiphanies, for wailing and weeping, and happily, this movie also avoided those kinds of typical Hollywood elements. While there was character growth, the main character (played by Martin Sheen) was never going to transform into someone who spews emotions and tears in a typical way. There was not deep conversation, but the pilgrims grow closer, simply through walking.
There wasn't as much in spiritual terms as I was expecting. Not one of the main characters walks the Camino for the spiritual reasons one might expect. But that was fine with me. There was a bit of spirituality here and there. I do wonder if a viewer had no understanding of the Camino or of pilgrimage or of Christianity if the spiritual/religious/Christian bits would make sense.
One of the characters was a writer, walking because of writer's block, and he becomes unblocked. The movie had a bit more about creative/journaling process than I was expecting, not much, but a bit.
As I watched them walk, I thought about my own backpacking days. I thought about this Facebook post that I made on Saturday: " The air this morning (rain coming, heat coming) takes me back to Girl Scout camp, that summer when I was a backpacking counselor, back before cell phones, where we were dropped off at one point of the Appalachian Trail, and 22 rugged miles later, we'd be picked up at a different point later in the week. Three young women, including me, in charge of a group of younger women, carrying everything we needed on our backs. Why have I ever been scared of anything since then? I should feel more invincible." That summer was 1984--wow.
After the movie, there was a 30 minute conversation between Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, and Rick Steves. It repeated some of the material from their interview on the NPR program, but it was also different enough to keep me there. I so appreciate the themes that these 3 men embraced and discussed, themes of family, religion/spirituality/Christianity, what it means to be a man, travel, and community.
I feel lucky to have had a chance to have this experience and lucky that I didn't have to travel far to do it. If the movie had been showing at a theatre at the far side of Asheville, I would have probably wimped out. And even though it was near to me, in a new commercial development designed to make us all feel like we're in some village, I did have trouble finding my way back to the main road. This development has been there at least 10 years--why is there not more signage? How did I get turned around? It was dark and rainy.
But happily, I saw the very small sign marked "private road," turned around and followed a car which got me back to the main road. I did have my cell phone, which could have gotten me back to the main road, maybe. I didn't feel scared or aggravated, so much as bemused.
Perhaps it was knowing that I wasn't too far away from regular civilization--the roads were paved, after all, if not well marked, and there were streetlights, which led me to think that I would eventually find a main road.
Or perhaps it was a left over bit of movie magic. Perhaps I kept a sense of perspective because I had just spent 2.5 hours thinking about pilgrimage.
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