windemere | Pancake Tuesday

This post will not be about pancakes.

It is, only very rarely, that one may watch a film that changes your life - or at the very least makes you think about your life - and take away from it some appreciation that, with a little hope, will last you some years. It is only very rarely that a film maker manages to make such a film. And when they do, the results are spectacular.

'The Way' is the story of a journey - or rather, many journies and yet all the same - that does not preach, it does not demand, it does not tell, it does not even imply anything beyond the natural inclination of the human brain to be moved to consideration. However, I think I would be hard pressed to find a viewer who did not take something of measure from the tale.

The film is not about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. It is not about the relationship between a father and a son. It is not about the friends you meet on the way or the journey you undertake to get somewhere. It is not about religion or God or penance. It is, in some ways, a measure of all and none of these things. Like the Way of St. James, each viewer will take away their own enlightenment from watching it.

And, like those that reach the end, it is not about who you were before, but where you go afterwards.

One day, I will walk the pilgrim road from St Jean Pied to Santiago de Compostela. I will not do it for religion, as I am not a Catholic, but I might do it for belief, and for The Road and for myself.

Most of all, I'll do it for myself. As everyone does.