Educational Media Reviews Online

There is no single right way to do the Camino, nor to live life. --From caminodocumentary.org

For more than a thousand years people have gone on pilgrimage to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela to visit the tomb of the apostle James. Many of these pilgrims traveled the Camino Francés, a five-hundred-mile path across Spain that begins at St. Jean Pied de Port, just over the border with France.

In Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago director/producer Lydia B. Smith and crew take up with some contemporary pilgrims on their six-week journey to Santiago in the spring of 2009. Through interviews on the path and in the albergues (pilgrim hostels), and entries from video diaries kept by the pilgrims, Smith introduces viewers to a diverse group of travelers: optimistic Annie from Los Angeles; Jack and Wayne, retirees and avid hikers from Canada; power-walker Misa, a student from Denmark; Sam, a thirty-something Brazilian woman looking for a fresh start in life; athletic Tómas, also in his 30s; and Tatiana, a devout young single mother from France traveling with her brother and three-year-old son. Each traveler comes to the Camino with a unique intention—to honor God or the memory of a loved one, to find healing, to tackle a physical or mental challenge—and all discover along the way that the Camino has various means to push travelers out of their comfort zones and into new ways of thinking, being and doing.

Insightful comments from Camino scholars, priests, health professionals and hospitaleros (hostel volunteers) give viewers a fuller sense of the Camino’s place in history, as well pointing up its continuing ability to transform lives. Striking footage of the Camino itself—mountain passes and ancient villages, peaceful vineyards and raucous cities, stretches of endlessly rolling fields, lush hills and forests—draws viewers into the pilgrims’ journey, with all its beauty and challenge.

A winning choice for public, academic or church libraries, Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago will enhance classroom study of Western history, culture and religion, delight armchair travelers, and encourage thoughtful viewers to ponder life’s deepest questions.

Shot in high-definition, chaptered, closed captioned in English, subtitled in English.

Awards

• 2013 American Documentary Film Festival, Audience Favorite
• 2013 Rainier Independent Film Festival, Best Documentary
• 2013 Festival Cine Y TV Camino de Santiago, Best Documentary
• 2013 Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival, Best Documentary
• 2013 Newport Beach Film Festival, Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking
• 2013 Hollywood Film Festival, Best Documentary
• 2013 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, Best Documentary