Posted on 10/9/2011, 1:25:23 PM by marshmallow
Lately it seems that many of my friends are either returning from a pilgrimage to a holy site in Europe or planning one. I long to make a pilgrimage too, but since it’s not in the budget right now, I’ll have to settle for living vicariously. Fortunately, a new movie titled The Way, starring Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez, offers an opportunity to join in the adventure of one of the most popular pilgrimages — El Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James). The Camino is an arduous 500-mile trek through Spain and France. It ends at Santiago de Compostela and the Cathedral of St. James, where the Apostle is believed to be buried.
The Way chronicles the journey of a curmudgeonly ophthalmologist named Tom (Sheen) who travels to France to collect the remains of his estranged son Daniel (Estevez, who also directs the film and wrote the screenplay). Daniel was the victim of a freak snowstorm in the Pyrenees while hiking on the Camino. On a whim, Tom decides to finish the journey that his son began. Along the way, he meets three fellow pilgrims who are facing their own demons. As the foursome traverse the Camino, they learn important lessons on life and community.
I had the opportunity to talk to Martin Sheen as he and Emilio travel the US on a bus tour in support of their labor of love.
Peggy Bowes: I read that your son Emilio jokingly complained that it was difficult to shoot the film because you stopped to talk to everyone on the Camino.
Martin Sheen: [Laughs heartily] I have a great deal of fun when I’m working, and we were shooting this film on location in a very public way. People recognized me, and I was delighted to share a greeting and be present to them, but I must admit that sometimes I got distracted from the shooting schedule so I need to apologize to Emilio for that.
Peggy: Who was the most interesting person you met?
Martin: There are so many! There was a family from Australia who was suffering the loss of a daughter in an automobile accident. They were making the journey in her name, and they had created a foundation in her honor. She was a young nursing student in Australia. We met up along The Way and we stayed in touch, in fact. They were going through the same kind of grieving process with the loss of their child that my character was suffering in the movie, so we felt a connection. They were overjoyed to find the Camino such a healing experience. A lot of people take the Camino who are going through a grieving process and who are suffering great loss, and they invariably find an equal measure of healing. That family was really the most inspiring group that I met.
Peggy: What was your favorite place on The Camino?
Martin: My favorite place is Santiago itself. I’ve been there several times, and to bring the film in there was very exciting because we were the first and only film company, I understand, that they ever permitted to film inside the cathedral. They [previously] allowed only newsreel footage and occasional documentary footage. We were the only ones with a scripted story. They were reticent and were not anxious to have us in there. They didn’t quite know us, and they weren’t sure of what our scenario was. It was 48 hours before we entered the city before we got permission. It was an added miracle. If you’ve seen the film, you know the ending is absolutely essential, otherwise we have no film. The last 15 minutes of the film centers mostly inside the cathedral with each individual we’ve come to know and love along the journey and their personal response to the sanctity of that place. It’s so powerful! So that’s still my favorite place.
Peggy: I heard that you got even the atheists on the crew to pray for access to the Cathedral at Santiago.
Martin: [Laughs again] Yeah, well Emilio did start a novena, kind of. He said he wanted everyone to start praying and lighting candles so that they would open the doors of the cathedral because otherwise we would all be out of job, and we wouldn’t have a film. There were multiple miracles.
Peggy: What types of miracles?
Martin: The first one started the whole journey for us back in 2003 when I was driving the Camino with my grandson Taylor, who is Emilio’s son. He was 19 and working for me as an assistant on The West Wing at the time. He and I were driving the Camino because we didn’t have enough time to complete the whole 800 km journey. At Burgos we stayed at a refugio run by this family whose daughter Julia was a very beautiful young girl and served us supper that night. She and Taylor fell in love instantly. They got married and they live in Burgos. That was the start of it. Julia’s mother’s name is Milagros [Spanish for “miracles”]. Tell me that’s not significant! That was the very first miracle. It just accumulates from there.
Peggy: Was the bus tour to promote The Way effective?
Martin: We’re on our American pilgrimage now, so to speak, in this bus tour. We’re on our 23rd city in the last 6 weeks. We’re in New York City, and the film opens tomorrow. We’re just so excited about the response we’re had across the country, particularly among young people. You know, young people in America are really not familiar with pilgrimage and we’ve gotten so much interest. I think the tourist board in Spain is going to be surprised with a spike in the number of American students doing the Camino next year.
Peggy: As a Rosary devotee, I love that you started the bus tour with a Rosary and the film opens on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
MartinI’m very fond of the Rosary. It has great meaning in my life. I’ve become known as “The Rosary Dispenser” because I leave rosaries wherever I go. All the vehicles that everyone in my family drives have a blessed Rosary on the rearview mirror. Our bus has one as well. I wouldn’t leave home without it. I love the Rosary and of course this is the month of the Rosary, October. I’m a devotee but I’m especially pleased with how often the Rosary appears in our film. I play a lapsed Catholic on the Camino and I run into a Catholic priest who’s on pilgrimage and he gives me a Rosary and a blessing in the film. It’s a lovely moment. The Rosary is very significant in our movie.
[Note: If you are interested in making a pilgrimage to Spain or learning more about the Camino de Santiago, I highly recommend a terrific blog by my good friend, Theresa Doyle-Nelson, author of Saints of the Bible and More Saints of the Bible. Her three sons, ages 13-23, made the pilgrimage together last summer. Their photos and tales of adventure and brotherly companionship are fun to read. Theresa adds so many interesting facts and trivia about the Camino, interspersed with her sons’ commentary. The blog is called “Brothers on the Camino,” and can be found at www.brothersonthecamino.blogspot.com/ ]
What do you call it when you complete a pilgrimage? "Duh. Winning!"
Nutty left wing Catholic alert!!!
I wouldn’t watch that movie if they paid me.
Nutty left wing Catholic alert!!!
I wouldn’t watch that movie if they paid me.
Because Sheen is on my koo koo bird Leftist movie star list to not support ($$$)... I would normally just not go to any movie he is in. However, this looks like an uplifting, spirituals film and I do want to support THOSE efforts.
I'm not Catholic, but it sounds like a movie I'd appreciate. Think I'll go.
I agree with you that it looks like a movie that could be great on many levels, I also agree with you about Emilio Estevez. I also on a personal level, (at least as much as I can through the media), like Martin Sheen. To all appearances he seems like a decent man who raised a good family. I didn’t say my position is easy. But we have to recognize that the ideology he pushes within his version of Catholicism is slippery and destructive. And I worry that in a vehicle like this the potential for them to either subtly or heavily, push a Liberation Theology message is too great and highly possible.
Sheen is a Leftwing nut but I've always respected him for being a decent, religious family man (after he stopped drinking and druggin) and for his approach to substance abuse, which he is recovering from too. There are times he spouts crazy Leftwing rhetoric. Then there are times he talks about addiction and alcoholism, or his family life pre- and post-addiction in ways that are mature and insightful. And I respect his public comments on his son's addictions and battles. Goes to show that not all Leftwingers are bad in all aspects of their lives. Same with Robin Williams. He's a Leftwing nut but does a huge amount to support the troops.
I am planning to go as well.
You are right about Sheen’s leftism. But it is always a good idea to remember that Jesus explained to us that his kingdom is not of this world. This world is about politics, and he spent a good deal of time explaining to the political zealots among his followers that he was not bringing a political solution to the problems of this world.
Instead he brought the opposite. At a time when the Jews were looking for a messiah who would overthrow the Roman occupiers (there’s a popular word), and when even a low-level political dignitary would ride into town with an entourage, fanfare and trumpets announcing his coming, the almighty God of the universe rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He humbly submitted himself to be crucified — the ultimate relinquishment of all power by the only one entitled to it.
The zealots on the left or right are always looking for the political solution. In the end that is the solution of worldly power and it will not work. So I respect Sheen for what I believe is the humility of his faith, despite the misguided nature of his politics.
If we decide not to go to see a film simply because the actors have a different view of politics or faith than we do, then we would not see very many movies. Human beings are created in the image of God who gives his gifts “without repentance” or “irrevocably” depending on your translation. The ability to act well is a gift of God and regardless of the actor’s beliefs, good acting, as all good art, reflects the imprint of the Creator on the human soul. And we ought to thank God for it.
I can’t argue much with what you have said.
Just think about the stated subject of this movie. This is a heavy subject. Martin Sheen’s politics are the same as Michael Moore’s. Of course he’s nowhere near as disgusting.
Look what Steven Spielberg did with the movie Munich. He pushed his insipid ideology.
This movie will be a vehicle for Liberation Theology.
I can’t argue much with what you have said.
Just think about the stated subject of this movie. This is a heavy subject. Martin Sheen’s politics are the same as Michael Moore’s. Of course he’s nowhere near as disgusting.
Look what Steven Spielberg did with the movie Munich. He pushed his insipid ideology.
This movie will be a vehicle for Liberation Theology.
Sheen: I cannot make a choice for a women, particularly a black or brown or poor pregnant woman. I would not make a judgment in the case......I personally am opposed to abortion, but I will not judge anybody else's right in that regard because I am not a woman and I could never face the actual reality of it."
Martin Sheen - The Progressive Interview
But this movie will be a political statement. Thats what Sheen does. They confuse people by mixing in some religious concepts in with their political message. Liberation Theology pushes a political solution.
By saying I won’t see this movie on the basis of foreknowledge of an agenda does mean that I am pushing a political solution. I am saying that it is not good to expose yourself to an acidic message.
But this movie will be a political statement. Thats what Sheen does. They confuse people by mixing in some religious concepts in with their political message. Liberation Theology pushes a political solution.
By saying I won’t see this movie on the basis of foreknowledge of an agenda does mean that I am pushing a political solution. I am saying that it is not good to expose yourself to an acidic message.
I’m not Catholic, but I have had the opportunity to hike the Camino twice. The first time from southern France over the Pyrenees and across Spain, 500 miles. And the second time with my 10 year old son; we only did the last 120 miles on that trek.
Both hikes, pilgrimages if you will, were very meaningful and indeed you do meet the most amazing people from all over the world.
I’ll share just one memory:
On my second trek, my son and I were in the Galicia, northwest, region of Spain. We were hiking through the morning mist wearing ponchos. We were the only ones around and this small village was made up of stone buildings and cobble stone streets. A voice from behind us called out to us; “Perigrinos.” This means pilgrims.
We turned to see this hobbled old woman gesturing to us. She was very old with the bent over posture of one who has worked in the fields her whole life. Dressed in homespun wool that the mist clung to, and with wild hairs sprouting from her chin, she did indeed look like a movie character. A scary old crone is what my son saw. He clung to me as she made her slow approach.
Follow me, she said in Spanish. I have something for you. We fell in behind her as she turned the next corner into a very narrow side street. She stopped in front of a small stone hut that was leaning to one side, a pile of sticks beside the door and a few chickens milling about. I have something for you she repeated, as she opened the door and went in.
We’re not going in there, are we Dad, my son asked as he stood even closer. The chickens scampered inside. We stood in the doorway and looked inside the hut. One room with a clean swept dirt floor. I have something for you the old woman repeated, as she opened a small cupboard and took out a loaf of fresh baked bread. Pan de Galicia, the bread of Galicia, she said, as she placed the round rustic loaf on a cutting board and reached for a knife.
Her hands were shaking, like old peoples’ do, as she sliced off a hunk of bread for my son and I. The chickens were pecking up the crumbs on the dirt floor. She looked pretty scary to my son with that big knife shaking in her hand. To me she looked beautiful. I mean, it was like we were in a movie, but this was really happening.
Say a prayer for me when you get to Santiago, she said, as she handed over the bread. We walked out of that village munching on some of the best bread I have ever had. I turned to my son and said I wanted him to remember this morning. I told him that woman had nothing, but what she did have she was willing to share with us, total strangers just passing through.
So make crazy Catholic slams if you must. But don’t discount the Camino, or the miracles along the way, just because some loopy lefties are making a movie about it. The Camino is indeed magical.
One last thing. I shared this story with someone at a cocktail party once. Turns out this lady is a poet and turned my story into a poem. At a reading of the poem another young lady was inspired to walk the Camino. She did and met her future husband on her trek. They are now living happily ever after.
Pretty cool.
I am a Catholic (as is Sean Hannity). One thing that bothers me - always has - is why so many Catholics tend to lean left. For example, here in New Mexico, the new Governor (a Hispanic by the way) wants to require proof of legal residence before issuing a DL. The Catholic Church here is all up in arms about it. I really don’t get why (well, I kind of do, but I think their concern is misplaced).
As a Catholic, I have always had problems with Sheen’s self-righteous public statements. He had a habit of calling George W. Bush a moron, dry drunk and white knuckle drunk. He also called Clinton possibly the brightest president of the 20th century. His misguided view of support and defending the poor really amounted to no accountability for those who don’t actively work to improve their lot in life.
He loves the liberal Catholic use of “guilt” to try to justify leftism as the righteous “non-judgmental” way of love your neighbor, where it really masks the bigotry of lowered expectations for his bent view of the oppressed. I once had a dispute with a priest over this, to no avail. Martin Sheen in my view, is misguided at best, fanatical leftist at worst.
Wait a minute.
I didn’t say anything derogatory about Catholicism, nor did I discount the Camino.
Liberation Theology is destructive. Thats what I’m talking about.
Wait a minute.
I didn’t say anything derogatory about Catholicism, nor did I discount the Camino.
Liberation Theology is destructive. Thats what I’m talking about.
I can't argue with that. But I'm sure you have the discernment to sort it out. Either way, you have the choice and I wouldn't take that away from you.
Did I say anything about choice or non-choice? No.
Of course you have the right to drink battery acid if you want to.
If we are ever going to make headway against the left’s iron fisted grip on the throat of our culture we have to be able to recognize the destructive parts, and not give in, by supporting their product, just because the battery acid may be sweetened with some sacramental wine.
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