The Way

Deb 8 Me 7

This was a surprise out of left field, never heard of it, had zero expectations and sat down in a crowded theater to see The Way. First thing I see I see is that it is produced, directed and written for the screen by Emilio Esteves. This is followed by the cast list where Martin Sheen is the only name I recognize. In the film Sheen plays Esteves father, amazing casting. So from the git-go my antennae is up and I’m thinking this is going to be a “cause” movie, something to promote something on Sheen’s political agenda and will not be very appealing. This feeling haunted me all the way through and sure enough there was the obligatory pro-catholic and pro-life diatribe, slyly played out by other actors, but what the hell, its their movie, they can say what they want. It was indeed about something near to the Sheen/Esteves family heart, but something with a wider and historically significant appeal and generally remarkable.

Without giving too much away it is about the Camino de Santiago and the thousands who make the pilgrimage to the place where St. James’ remains are reputed to be interred. The film focuses on only a few trekkers who were all ably acted, they were rough equivalents of the tin man, scarecrow and lion on the way to Oz, and the off-hand reference to this made it a light coincidence rather than a worn-out formula. It is a long trip through villages scattered along beautiful countrysides. My namesake is Basque and they pay homage to the Basque region in a way that interested me; in fact almost everything they touched on was interesting to me. It was a good movie, a bit overplayed, but they avoided obvious clichés and made some good choices. A not so good choice was shooting in digital rather than film, which left the gorgeous panoramas a bit weak. The biggest issue was the several holes in the story and a lot of un-answered questions (some of them I considered to be key) that left me a bit hollow in an otherwise filling tale.

The Help

Deb 8 Me 8

This one came recommended. I looked at the trailer and it looked to be a horrible movie, filled with giggly southerners and maids making cutesy commentary. Ignore the trailers. This was a pretty darn good movie that dealt with genuine issues in a realistic way. It takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the days of the civil rights movement. I can’t pretend to know anything about how deeply rooted the southern problem is/was, but the movie shows it with a pretty even hand. Like anyplace, some folks are kind but misguided, others mean and rueful.

Points against the movie are its slow pace, slow as a southern summer. And the main player just wasn’t believable, she didn’t look right to me and her motivations were never quite convincing. It’s a long movie at 137 minutes, the result of the slow pace and just a little too much ground covered.

But in its favor is that it’s a good story. It’s a big story that needs to be remembered all the time. It’s a movie that reminds me of our social shortcomings and wants to make things better. It opens the door for me to rant. The black slaves were freed in the 1860s and it takes a full 100 years for them to get legal equal rights. That was 50 years ago and still our most depressed communities, our worst schools and our jails are filled with black Americans. Sure there are great strides for a few blacks, but this works as a distraction to the thousands who still remain in squalor. This is a story of a few who courageously take the first tentative steps toward resolution of a powerful and deeply entrenched American crisis.