On the couch

DVD REVIEW

The  Way ****
Directed by: Emilio Estevez
Starring: Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt

The Lord of the Rings *****
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Christopher Lee

I wonder what Carlos Estevez thought when he watched The Way? I wonder if he watched it at all?
It’s a simple film about a father who travels to France to pick up the body of his son after he dies on the Camino de Santiago. Instead of going home, however, he decides to exorcise the demons of the distant relationship he had with his only child by completing the pilgrimage.
Along the way he reflects on his life, his relationship with his son and how he views his place in the world.
Carlos, by the way, is the birth name of Charlie Sheen. And the reason this film might have a certain poignancy for him is that it was directed and written by his brother, Emilio Estevez and stars his father, Martin, as the bereaved dad, Tom. Emilio also pops up occasionally as the deceased son, Daniel.
High on expansive camera work and actor-y moments, low on incident or action, The Way could have been a crashingly boring endeavour or, worse, an irritatingly preachy one. While it does have a few mawkish moments, hits a few stereotypes a little too hard and, in one particular case, tries to make a point about social justice so hard it’d make Mary Robinson wince, it is, overall, a surprisingly absorbing and eventually satisfying flick.
Much of the responsibility for this can be laid at the feet of the Estevez boys. Martin Sheen is on fine form as Tom Avery, a California ophthalmologist whose family life has become strained since the death of his wife. Other than being baffled by his son’s desire to travel just for the hell of it – apparently abandoning 10 year’s work on a doctorate in favour of going to see the world – his life is comfortably sedate.
Sheen’s grief feels real right from the off. Not the shirt-rending nonsense that often passes for sorrow in films; you immediately feel for the auld fella when he gets the news while out for a round of golf – he’s shattered, alone and uncertain.
As he makes his way along the Camino – a roughly 800km trek through France and Spain – Tom meets and reluctantly travels with an emotionally spiky Canadian woman (Deborah Kara Unger), a fat Dutch slob  (Yorick van Wageningen) and an Irish writer (James Nesbitt) whose lack of anything to say doesn’t seem to give him a reason to shut up. Ever.
Despite the Dutch guy and the Irish guy conforming to some irritating stereotypes – one smokes a lot of cannabis along the way, the other’s a drinker and a waffler with issues about the church – the relationship between the four sidesteps a lot of the usual guff you’d expect the flick to indulge in.
There are a few moments of deus ex machina where the story stretches the limits of plausibility but everything is so nice and enjoyable that they’re easy to forgive.
It helps that Avery isn’t a cookie cutter kindly old man coping with life with extraordinary grace and still finding time to be wise and considerate to the young folk around him. Tom’s an ornery old coot. He’s sad and cranky and wants to be left alone.
It’s a role Sheen does very well and, if nothing else, and reality of his grief keeps the rest of the film grounded.
While The Way’s conclusion provides no great surprises and it seldom deviates from anything but a predictable path, it is still a thoroughly charming film to watch. Thoughtful and beautifully shot, it’s perfect fare for a Sunday afternoon in with a large cup of milky tea.
From one film of walking a long bloody way for a good cause to three. The tenth anniversary is fast approaching of the greatest stroll ever committed to the screen – The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Directed by Peter Jackson, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King have all aged well over the last decade. This is due, in no small part, to the quality of the script and the excellent ensemble cast.
The CG has stood the test of time too as, despite the fantastic setting and subject matter, Jackson didn’t lean too hard on effects to create a sense of scale and drama.
Rewatching the three – in the director’s cut if you can get your hands on them – it’s comforting to discover that certain things haven’t changed – Viggo Mortensen is still awesome as Aragorn, the pivotal battle scenes are still thrilling to watch, Gollum is no less loathsome, pathetic and technically wonderful and the hobbits – Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin are still the least interesting thing in the film.
Most of all though the three films make up a fantastic yarn. And a good story will never really age too badly. I wonder if time will be as kind to Avatar?
I doubt it.