Movie reviews
When Daniel dies during a freak storm, his estranged father, Tom (Martin Sheen), flies to Europe to recover the body. Once on French soil, however, Tom decides to honour Daniel’s intent and make the pilgrimage on his behalf. Intended as a metaphor for Tom’s spiritual progress towards acceptance and peace, Emilio Estevez’s film — he writes, stars, directs and produces — lacks the kind of conflict, struggle and triumph that might have made the journey worthwhile for the audience. Tom travels with a ragtag group of fellow pilgrims, played by James Nesbitt, Deborah Kara Unger and Yorick van Wageningen, and while the co-stars turn in solid performances, Sheen is as watchable as ever, particularly as the mourning, irreligious Tom is resolute in his determination to plough a furrow between pious faith and the more functional reasons his more secular companions have for making the trek (losing weight, giving up cigarettes, breaking through writer’s block).
Unfortunately, the quartet’s regular bickering and reconciliations fall well short of the cathartic experience the film’s set-up promises, and too much of the narrative is given over to montages in which the pilgrims hike past attractive scenery, an indulgence that comes at the expense of a more personal exploration of Tom’s grief and subtle transformation. The net result is a film that is far more interesting as an advertisement for Spanish tourism than it is as a spiritual odyssey.
