Camino by Birgitte Stærmose, a remake of The Way by Emilio Estevez?
18 July 2023
Still from Camino, directed by Birgitte Stærmose.
When I first saw the trailer for Camino, the latest feature by Danish filmmaker Birgitte Stærmose, I couldn’t help but see parallels with The Way, trailer, a film made in 2010, by American actor and director Emilio Estevez. At first, some of the similarities made me wonder whether Camino was a remake of The Way, which I saw in 2012, but likely that was my imagination running away with me.
Certainly though, both stories feature a number of commonalities.
The first, and indeed most obvious, is their shared setting, the Camino de Santiago, or Camino, which is sometimes referred to as the Way of St James. The Camino is a network of pilgrimage routes spanning the north of Spain. The networks, or pathways, lead to what many believe is the tomb of Saint James, an apostle of Jesus, a preacher and religious leader, who lived in the first century of the Common Era. Some of the Camino pathways can take weeks to walk.
The family dynamics in both films are also comparable, with a father-adult child estrangement being a central plot point. In the case of Camino, this is discord between a woman, Regitze (Danica Curcic), and her father, Jan (Lars Brygmann). Both stories feature a death in the family, and a subsequent obligation to walk the Camino, or at least part of it.
The protagonists in both movies frequently encounter other Camino walkers, who often seem to be possessed of strong, or colourful personalities. And finally, both stories are comedies, infused with elements of drama and tragedy. But despite these similarities, Camino is not a remake of The Way.
For those who want to see for themselves though, Camino premieres in Australia as part of the 2023 Scandinavian Film Festival, with the first screening taking place in Sydney on Sunday 31 July 2023.
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