Seeking the meaning of life varies from some person to another. While most people sympathize with their situations in life, it is unusual to learn that different persons around the globe undergo the same kind of tribulations or could even be worse. “The way” movie features family, friends and challenges faced in this dynamic world. Tom, an American doctor, stars the movie by embarking on a pilgrimage to look for the remains of his beloved son, Daniel, who was killed in a storm in the Pyrenees while walking the Catholic’s Way of St. James pilgrimage. Initially, Tom’s journey was to retrieve the son’s body, but while there, he decided to pay his son homage by taking along Daniel’s ashes with him. It is in this journey that Daniel meets with three other pilgrims; a Dutchman, a Canadian and an Irish writer who they related with on the life encounters. Consequentially, Tom develops a different perspective on life and its meaning. This study focuses on developing a life meaning through the analysis of the “The way” movie and consequentially establishing backup from the holy longing and a ship to hold on the world and the marionettes ascents writings, by Ronald Rolheiser and Annabelle Moseley respectively.
Ronald Rolheiser outlines the holy longing as the search of Christian spirituality. In his contestations, he indicates that key elements to spirituality may reflect peacemaking and human sexuality (Rolheiser, 2000). This is the establishment of humanity on spiritual grounds which blends well with the movie's characters. For instance, character Joost, the Dutchman, joined the pilgrimage to seek remedy and consolation on his overweight problems and necessarily hopes to win his wife back. The overweight problem Joost undergoes is a present-day issue, which affects personalities and family units through breakups. While it is a consistent predicament in the society today, many people are not enlightened on appropriate remedy approaches whereby Rolheiser indicates spiritual intervention as one. By understanding sexuality concepts, Rolheiser states that people accustom to the times they live in and thus should not stop pursuing self-joy by whatever means. This is to mean that contemporary societal issues are integrated into the lives humans live and there are no specific ways of remedying situations in our life. Nevertheless, the spiritualities are key to realizing what our bodies desire. Moreover, pursuing the meaning of life in this regard would mean to get enlightened on the scope of sexuality as a modern-day struggle.
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Rolheiser wishes that the holy longing creates the spirit of faith, acceptability and clarity of the struggle people undergo and hopes that God’s sympathy and consolation create hope at every bit of the spiritual journey. Tom and his fellow pilgrims are hopeful for a better future, as Joost, the Dutchman, wishes to lose weight and save his marriage, Sarah, the Canadian, hopes to quit smoking and get liberation from her abusive husband. In addition, Jack, the Irish writer, wishes to get a breakthrough in his writing career (Ebert, 2018). The quartet pilgrims have predicaments in life, but they chose to adopt the spiritual way of seeking God’s consolation. While there are many ways of dealing with the worldly problems, it is important to understand that heavenly intervention is key in this realization. Also, the pilgrims get an indispensable opportunity to walk in contemplation of their life’s misgivings which establishes clarity, acceptability and the faith required to choose a life of happiness. Intuitively, life challenges and uncertainties can be better focused on in the solitude and solace established in God’s presence. In this way, there is hope for a better future.
Additionally, the movie is an intriguing revelation of the sacrifices people make to turn around their life perceptions. While Daniel is spiritually oriented, his father Tom was not and their relationship was undeniably strange. However, Tom embarks to pay his son homage in a spiritual endeavor, which turns around to be the greatest revelation of what was the true meaning of his life. Consequentially, Tom forgives his son’s decision to join the pilgrimage which is attributable to the experiences he had with his colleague pilgrims. Elaborately, Annabelle Moseley in A Ship to Hold the World, and The Marionette’s Ascent, describes a life of Marion, who embarks on a Dantean journey that is characterized with limbo, hell and heaven (In Martin, 2017) . Instructively, Moseley refers to the disparaging life’s ups and downs that persons undergo, but still establishes a reason to seek redemption through own sufferings and sacrifices. Tom accustoms to these developments by being part of a cohort trying to establish relevance in their lives amidst all the contemporary hardships encountered in this life.
Conclusively, Emilio Estevez's "The Way" is a modern life reflection of the typical adversities relative to human development, especially with regard to family and individual personalities. The movie infers the importance of seeking to understand life challenges in a spiritual basing and amidst persons who can relate to a variant of worldly problems. In this sequence, Ronald Rolheiser backs up Estevez’s inspirations by indicating the relevance of establishing inner soul-searching through Christian spirituality. He points to the importance of realizing self-joy to the matters of sexuality by appealing to the dynamism of human preferences. While Rolheiser’s spiritual contestations may vary with persons purposes of life, he is keen to note that a close relationship with God is key for clarity, acceptability and faith of the remedies we adopt in pursuit for a life meaning. Additionally, on the pilgrims’ relationships through the journey, we get the value of associating others in our problems to find better amicable solutions. This is also in respect with Annabelle Moseley’s revelations in A Ship to Hold the World and The Marionette’s Ascent. He refers us to Old Testament analogies and Marion’s cyclical life experiences. Undoubtedly, the movie an excellent source of inspiration for persons seeking to get a better understanding of life challenges and their meaning, which is consequential to uplifting lives.
References
Ebert, R. (2018). The Way Movie Review & Film Summary (2011) | Roger Ebert. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-way-2011
In Martin, D. (2017). Adam, Eve, and the Riders of the Apocalypse: 39 contemporary poets on the characters of the Bible .
Rolheiser, R. (2000). The Holy Longing. Theological Studies , 61 (3), 597.
