Emilio Estevez cites “The Canterbury Tales,” “The Wizard of Oz” and Jack Hitt’s book “Off The Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down The Pilgrim’s Route Into Spain” as inspiration for his inspirational walkabout, “The Way.” A California opthamologist takes a sentimental journey with the ashes of his cremated son. For weeks, widower Tom walks the Christian pilgrim route his late son had only begun. A bad storm in the Pyrenees led to the death of Daniel, seen in flashbacks and apparitions. His fictional father is played by his real father, Martin Sheen, sporting a multi-metallic medley of hair hues. Testy, skeptical and out of shape, Tom gathers Canadian, Dutch and Irish traveling companions, each with their own therapeutic itineraries. Their wisdom of self-discovery is lame: “You don’t choose a life, you live it” and “Our children, they are the very best and the very worst of us.” Still, there is earnest secular tearjerking. And don’t miss the arc of the mighty swinging incense censer in the twelfth-century Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. With Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick van Wageningen, James Nesbitt. 115m. (Bill Stamets)
Ray Pride is Newcity’s film critic and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine.
His multimedia history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” will be published soon. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram as Ghost Signs Chicago. More photography on Instagram.
