In Martin Sheen’s latest film, “The Way”, begins when Tom Avery (Sheen) while on a golf outing, receives a phone call informing him his son, Daniel, has been killed in bad weather while hiking “The Way of Saint James”. A walk of over 500 miles along El Camino d Santiago from France to Spain on his first night. Tom flies to France to claim Daniel’s ashes and suddenly decides to finish his son’s hike.

Although against the better judgement of police captain Henri (Tcheky Karyo) due to Tom not being in shape for the journey, he dons Daniel’s already fully stocked backpack and his shoes, which so happen to fit perfectly, and sets off on the 800 kilometer walk. Tom just wants to clear his head, gather his thoughts and process the tragic event.

“The Way” is a powerful emotional drama of which I strongly suggest everyone to see this Oscar contender. In a recent interview with Martin Sheen, his son Emilo Estevez (Bobby), who wrote and directed “The Way” and appears in the film via flashbacks, and David Alexanian (he produced the film and played Roger) at the Indianapolis Art Museum, Sheen told me this is his best work in 30 years. You might recall, at just the ripe age of 36, Sheen had a near fatal heart attack on the set of “Apocalypse Now”. He also had a drinking issue which since then, he has kicked. His other son, Charlie, picked it up though.

Sheen has surrendered to a higher power and returned to his catholic roots and mentioned Charlie is on his own path and is working on reconstructing himself.

Along Tom’s hike he meets three interesting hikers in a Wizard of Oz analogy. The first being Joost (Yorick van Wageningen)a Dutch man who is attempting to walk off his weight, but eats his way through the walk anyway. It is actually Joost who provides most of the humor, although this is no by any means a comedy. The second encounter is Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), who hopes to stop chain smoking at the end of the rainbow. The third Amigo is a Irish writer stuck in a rut by the name of Jack (James Nesbitt).

Through the journey, each companion troubles becomes more clear and the pilgrims become closer as they find redemption. The acting and the facial expressions on Sheen’s face is what I call real acting with no cgi to take the credit.

Along “The Way of Saint James”, which is a trail from France to Spain that thousands of hikers and bikers take to each year, Tom scatters Daniel’s ashes at different points as he walks his footsteps. The 71 year old Sheen is a very fine actor and we all need to thank the father and son duo for a fine Heartland Film Festival film.

The only flaw in the film and it is probably to picky, is the rest stops along The Way, were pretty convenient with all the wine and food at their disposal. And Joost did not waste (pardon the pun) any time putting some grub down with wine chasers. The scabbling between Sarah and Tom however as priceless as it is, makes up for any flaws as this is probably the finest spiritual film I have ever had the privileged of seeing. If you have demons to dust out inside, the way to go is “The Way”.

In the interview with Estevez, his decision to shoot the film in Super 16 film helped keep production costs down and the crew mobile and the breathtaking views of the mountains were done to show off some of God’s beautiful country. Estevez also stated the film was shot in sequences in lieu of in parts. You might remember him in “Young Guns’ and his papa in The West Wing in 1999. He kept his father’s real last name, Estevez. Martin Sheen was born in 1940 as Ramon Antonio Gerard Estevez. He was great to interview and has a great sense of humor. Something the world and work places could use a lot more of.

Also, look for Martin Sheen as the voice of Illusive Man in next year’s Mass Effect 3 video game. Something he mentioned to me as the only interviewer on the 30 city tour promoting “The Way”, who even thought to bring up his voice over gig.

More and more actors are doing this lately and some even follow it up with a movie. Ghostbusters is a soon to be example of the reuniting of original casts. I like to be different and Sheen is very proud of the game in stores early in 2012.

“The Way” opens in selected theaters in October, 2011 and is hoping for wider release in other markets. It is rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours.

By Hustlin Bob Higgins 4 1/2 stars