Would like to recommend a movie, "The Way"

My friend and her boyfriend just finished this trail. She posted pictures on Facebook all along the way; they were absolutely breathtaking. I was (still am) so jealous! I'll have to tell her about this film so they can relive their journey. P.S. (by about an hour)
I just watched some clips; I really want to see this film. It looks moving and inspirational as well as beautifully photographed. And it was fun, even for me who's never been there, to recognize many of the places from my friend's pictures.

I saw an interview with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez a few months back about this movie and was disappointed that it wasn't out in the theatres, yet. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it! A very popular German comedian did this trail a few years back and published his journal. That developed into a HUGE bestseller and has increased traffic on the Camino de Santiago by about 15-20% (according to Spanish sources). The book has now been translated into English. I highly recommend it. You can check it out on amazon, there's also an interesting inverview with the author: Hape Kerkeling: I'm off then
www.amazon.com/Im-Off-Then-Finding-Santiago/dp/1416553878

I am currently reading "I'm Off, Then" and I am finding it really boring. I thought "What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim" was a much better representation of what life on the Camino is like.

Hi Nancy, I wonder if some of the humour got lost in translation. Reading it in German I found there were witty parts, slower parts, introspective parts, sad parts ... but very few boring pages. In that I thought it could very well represent the Camino as it will change from day to day and with the different people you meet. Btw, my aunt took her eBike along for some stretches of the Camino and really enjoyed it. That was a great solution for her as she is mobility impaired due to a stroke.

If you are ever in Frankfurt, one of the stops for the German part of the pilgrimage is here. St. Leonhards, the oldest church in the city center, built in 1219. Totally original, it is presently undergoing some cleaning and restoration work. (removing a floor which was installed in the 1800's due to flooding from the Main). Here you could get fed and a place to sleep for the night, while walking to Spain. St. Leonhards is a gorgeous church and it should be re-opened in about a year. The archeologists have found an even older altar than 1219, with scallop shells behind it, which means this has been a stop for this pilgimage since before 1219. The church has 2 portals, a Jakobs Way portal and a Jerusalem Portal, both for pilgrims and both sculpted in 1220. There are routes going all through Europe. Imagine walking out of your house in London or Berlin or Paris, back in the year 1200 with the idea of walking to Spain or Jerusalem. Mind-boggling.

I saw the movie about a week and a half ago and loved it! The scenery of northern Spain is wonderful, and it's a nice story. And I thought they treated the topic of the pilgrimage with a great deal of respect. The only problem is that I have wanted to walk the Camino for so many years and have never been able to block out the time. Seeing the movie just makes me want to do it so much more... I did make a point of visiting the cathedral several years ago, and it is truly spectacular.

Among quite a few others, the actress Shirley MacLaine also undertook this pilgrimage and wrote a book about it "The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit". I thought it was interesting and a pretty good read.

Thanks for the mention, Dorothy. I saw an interview about the film with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez on "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" a show on PBS. The movie sounds really interesting. Medieval pilgrimages were a form of (religious) tourism. People had the opportunity to visit cities that they might never see otherwise. They helped local economies along the way by spending money in towns and cities, and they brought back "souvenirs" (i.e. palm fronds from the Holy Land) to prove that they had been there. There were even money-changing stations along major pilgrimage routes like the Camino de Santiago. There's a neat book out called "Memoirs of a Medieval Woman: The Life and Times of Margery Kempe" by Louise Collins. Margery lived in the 15th century in England. She was married and had 14 children but deserted her family to make pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, Jerusalem, and Rome, among other places; and she dictated her autobiography to a priest near the end of her life.

I'm lucky enough to have been to Santiago de Compostela, and I think anyone who has the chance to do so should go there. It's a great feeling to visit a place that's been a pilgrimage destination for over a thousand years, and to see the pilgrims arriving, every day. The cathedral there is fantastic.

http://www.theway-themovie.com/index.php

I walked the Camino last year from St Jean Pied du Port on May 22 and arrived in Santiago on June 23, 33 days of walking and meeting people from all corners of the globe. Not a day goes by that I don't think back to my Camino. It's a simple life of walking, eating, sleeping, interacting with other like minded people. While on the Camino I learned that Emilio had made a movie about it and had been looking forward to it, he had just finished filming when I was there. The movie does a great job of capturing the beauty and what it's like to sleep in an alburgue. As with any movie the main characters each had flaws and were drawn to walk, for the most part the people I met ranged from those that were doing it for religious reasons to others (most people) for the unique adventure that it brings. The reaction the Dutchman had to the cyclists, mine and many others didn't view cyclists as true pilgrims since they were doing so many kilometers everyday, there were quite a few of them, mostly Spaniards, they're not allowed into the alburgues till about 6 PM, whereas most walkers start each day between 6:30-7 and walk till about 2 when it starts to get too hot, pilgrims are only allowed to stay 1 night in the alburgue and must keep moving unless they have a doctors note to stay longer or get a hotel. That touches on one subject the movie didn't, that is injuries, blisters being the most common, many alburgues bring in someone each night to treat them, I didn't suffer from blisters but did develop shin splints for over a week and edema in the ankles (another common problem). One also must present their pilgrims passport when checking in to the alburgue not checking out like he did in the movie, minor flaw, some scenes were out of sequence but thats OK, overall it did bring tears to my eyes because it is something I hold very close to my heart.

BTW, if anyone has any questions about the Camino feel free to contact me, also if interested I have a blog I kept of my trip. http://www.bhcamino2010.blogspot.com

I am glad Dorothy suggested it! Great movie. I have seen it twice since it released here on 10/7. The first time I went alone. A week later I saw it again and brought my parents. I wanted them to see where I had been. My friend and I completed our Camino in the end of August this year. I agree with Barry's comments...I think every day about my time on the Camino. And the simple life it entails...my friend and I came to so cherish those days. Something about the routine of the early morning starts (still dark and misty often!), walking all day, stopping at the rest stops along the way, the peacefulness of it all. I want to go back SOON and do it all again. The movie is beautifully filmed, I enjoyed the actor's performances - particularly Martin Sheen and the guy that played the Dutchman. Oh..and the gypsy Dad. I give the movie two thumbs up! And about the books brought up in this post, I read I'm Off Then and enjoyed his humor. But even better, I liked a book called To the Field of Stars by Kevin Codd. I recommend it. Buen Camino!

Thank you all for your answers to my post. Barry and Christy, you really gave me a feel for what it's actually like to walk the Camino. I'll look for the books all of you have recommended and hope I can make my own pilgrimage someday!

Glad you are feeling inspired Dorothy! The movie does capture a lot of the spirit on the Camino. There are all kinds of people out there, all nationalities, all ages, all states of physical fitness, all walking for various reasons and all heading the same direction. The things you see, feelings you feel, people you meet...i can't imagine ever forgetting. Like Barry said, the movie brought tears b/c the Camino is just so special to me. It's beautiful yet humbling. The simple life of being a pilgrim is a refreshing change from my crazy, structured scheduled life at home and it's also very humbling. Had some ankle pain and there were days I felt I couldn't possibly take another step but yet somehow did. Especially with the strength I found from a fellow pilgrim ...she was 64 years old. We saw her a few days before we spoke. It's like that with pilgrims.. the faces become familiar as you see each other on the trail, at cafes, at destination towns for the evening. She walked very slowly, was alone, and had terrible shakes in her arms. Come to find out, she was from Ireland, it was her second camino, she has Parkinsons, her doctor recently told her it wasn't looking good and she didn't have much longer, she decided to return to the Camino. I asked how it was going and she said "oh it's so hard but i will make it". i thought of her every day particularly in those moments i thought i was too tired to carry on.

Hi Dorothy, glad to hear you are feeling inspired! and Christy I'm glad to run into another Peregrino on this message board, someone who shares a similar memory of something speical. One of the concerns about the movie was it may make the Camino very popular, maybe too popular and lose some of its uniqueness and magic. It's too early to say, with the distance to the Camino maybe that won't happen but I hope others here can experience what Christy and I experienced. The book by Hape Kerkeling did make the Camino very popular in Germany, Germans being the second most common nationality I met, second only to no surprise, Spaniards. Europeans have the ability to return to the Camino more easily than North Americans so the popularity is not surprising. As Jo mentioned the Camino having stops in Frankfurt, I met some Germans and a Belgian that literally walked out their front door to start their Camino. Many French that I met prefer to start deep into France to experience the Camino on their home turf. St Jean is the common starting point for most non Europeans. A couple of humerous notes relating to my Camino and the movie, when Tom is leaving St Jean, walking through an archway then turns left along the river, that is the main street through the old part of St Jean, when watching the movie my first thought when seeing that scene was, "you don't turn left, you go straight" the police officer shows up, gives Tom some words of encouragement and turns him around in the right direction. Also when he loses his backpack in the river, at an alburgue in Torres del Rio I ran into a young Finnish woman with her entire backpack dumped out by the washing sinks, I asked what she was up to and she said she stopped to rest on a bridge, took her pack off and it fell in the river, but she didn't have to go swimming for it, the water was very shallow, so I guess art does imitate life, LOL!

Thanks for your wonderfuldescriptions, Barry!
I wouldn't worry about the Camino becoming too popular among Americans. We don't get those great long vacations that Europeans do - while I'd love to go myself, I only get 2 weeks a year.:(