Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago
For this pilgrim reviewer, the opening shot of a peregrino walking the path that is El Camino across northern Spain barefoot was disturbing, to say the least. However, that disturbance quickly gave way to an absolute immersion in the beguiling scenery, and the even more beguiling ‘characters’ who bring Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago to life on the big screen.
The motivations of the pilgrims – Misa from Denmark, Jack and Wayne from Canada, Annie from LA, Tatiana from France, her little son Cyrian and brother Alexis, Sam from Brazil and Tomás who is Spanish – vary from ‘physical challenge’ to deepening one’s faith in God. However, each knows why s/he is there, although as Annie says, “I was told I would find the answers and I realised I didn’t know the questions!”
Apart from the stunning backdrop of Spanish countryside and towns that retain much of their medieval history, the gift of the documentary is the honesty of each pilgrim. None is exempt from pain, blisters, interrupted (but much-needed) sleep and uncertainty, but they share deeply their pre-camino lives and their challenges.
Wayne, for example, is a widower walking to honour the loss of his wife, and his friend Jack is the priest who buried Wayne’s wife. They are not young but they overflow with wisdom and of all the pilgrims, they take most easily to ‘the road’.
Several pilgrims draw the comparison between the road of the camino and the road of life, and for each of them, the oft-quoted advice to ‘live one day at a time’ is the only way they can continue to walk the camino.
One pilgrim said, “Every day is a journey and the road itself is home.”
Enhance your journey by seeing this documentary, soon.
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