The Way Character Analysis- Bianca

THE WAY

Most of us will analyze Tom because he is the protagonist of the story and the theme of this movie is around him, well, I’ll like to analyze him to but because is an interesting character whose attitude I’m familiar with. Well, to begin, Tom is probably an ordinary American, a doctor from California and I think he is not a bad man. The opening scenes of the film show him dealing kindly with a patient at his ophthalmology practice. Tom is totally devoted to his work and his patients and looks upon himself as a responsible adult. He loves his son, Daniel, though he drives him crazy with what Tom thinks is his lack of direction and drive. The conflict between father and son is like. In a flashback, the movie shows Daniel deciding not to finish his PhD, a choice that his father puts down to his son’s irresponsibility. Daniel goes off with his backpack and a pocketful of maps to see the world. Tom wants to protect his son as he protects himself, keeping him safe, walled high around with the rules, with PhDs, jobs and health insurance. He fears life, and fears for his son.

In a lot of senses, this story is not about religion, but spirituality, and though Tom is a believer, he does not trust God. But God was calling Tom, and when Daniel is killed by bad weather in the Alps, he goes to France to collect his body and realizes he can no longer resist that call, though he does not yet recognize the voice. He goes to France to collect Daniel’s remains and he learns about the Camino, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a route taken for centuries by people looking for different things, meaning, forgiveness, health or just adventure. Tom takes a leap of faith, and decides to walk the Camino, though he does not really know why.

And then the journey begins.. All the people Tom meets along “The Way” treat him kindly, the policeman who calls him to France from his golf game, his fellow walkers, everyone. But Tom’s heart is closed to them all. He is an adult, in an adult’s world. There can be no room in the adult world for the child of God, protected and loved by God. Tom keeps his inner child of God carefully enclosed and protects him himself, without God’s help, he feels strong enough to handle every situation, even loss.

Along The Way, Tom tries to walk the route while keeping his heart locked, but he is thrown together with three others who are, in their own ways, equally damaged. I think that Tom has a special relationship with Sarah, they have this connection in which sometimes they can get along well and some others they can’t stand each other, in fact the interactions between Tom and Sarah are particularly complex and moving. Probably, some of the film's most moving moments come in the interplay between these two. As we learn more about Sarah and her reasons for walking the Camino, we not only understand her character better but also why these two people are well suited to understand and help each other. Grief and sorrow often gather those who feel it from others; words of sympathy grate when we feel those expressing them cannot truly understand what we are going through. When Sarah finally shares a difficult part of her past with Tom and only with him, it is one of the more powerful moments in the film because the emphasis in the story is less on what she did than on the devastating emotional consequences of her actions.

To conclude, Tom Avery is a very interesting character. I think that in a lot of senses we can find ourselves in him because we try to overcome things without help, because we believe we are strong enough to bear all the difficulties of life, and even if we believe in God or not, we don’t even like to look for help in other people, and that superiority complex that we have, eventually brings us more suffering. I’ll like to see what happens to Tom in the end of the movie, to see if he recovers, if he finally finds what he is seeking or maybe finds something he deserve but he wasn’t looking for it. He became like the father or the paternal symbol of the group, he can guide them, maybe he’ll find in them comfort, and the bravery to recognize that he made a lot of mistakes within the relationship with Daniel due to fear.