Film Review: The Way, My Way
The Way, My Way
Directed by Bill Bennett
BJ Films, 2024
Run time: 98 minutes
Reviewed by Joseph A. Curro, Jr. | Arlington, MA
The Way, My Way is a film adaptation of Australian filmmaker Bill Bennett’s 2013 memoir of the same name. It follows him on his journey from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela and shows how the Camino both challenges and changes him.
The cinematography of this film is stunning, and it will recall many familiar memories for veterans of the Camino Francés.
This is an unusual film in that only four of the people appearing in it are professional actors. The remaining characters are actual pilgrims, whom Bennett met along the way and who returned a decade later to reenact their experience. This gives the film a somewhat “rough” feel at points, but also lends it an endearing spontaneity.
Chris Haywood as Bill turns in a heartfelt performance that leaves the audience alternately laughing and reaching out in empathy. Much is made of Bill’s age, with a number of pilgrims saying, “You’re older than I expected.” In reality, the actor is indeed quite a bit older than Bennett was during his first Camino, and one suspects that this device was used to accommodate the elapsed time and accumulated years of the other aged pilgrims.
Bill is extraordinarily obsessive. He eschews beer, rejects the use of walking sticks as “too technical,” demands retakes of photos with “too much headroom,” and meticulously measures every ounce of his backpack contents. Adhering strictly to the “10% rule,” Bill approaches a female pilgrim and asks her pack and body weights. (The reaction is as expected.)
We wince as Bill limps through a painful training injury and pushes beyond a healthy pace, in order to return a borrowed towel to another pilgrim. We live through his mental struggle over a promise to his wife (played by Bill Bennett’s actual spouse, Jennifer Cluff) to stop at Orisson on the first day. And we see him providing emotional comfort to a woman walking away from a tortured past.
The Way, My Way includes a cameo appearance by Johnnie Walker Santiago—a Camino guidebook author, Santiago resident expert, and all-around Camino personality; a hilarious depiction of albergue snoring; and much more that will resonate with accomplished pilgrims. It packs a lot for those who are merely Camino-curious, too, and is an enjoyable hour-and-a-half. Moviegoers will leave the theater singing to the end-credit strains of Australian pilgrim, podcast host, and musical performer Dan Mullins’s “Somewhere Along the Way,” and many will undoubtedly commence the planning of their next Camino.
Editor’s note: The long-awaited U.S. and Canadian release of The Way, My Way kicked off in late January 2025 with a seven-week tour of special Q&A screening events in 50 U.S. and Canadian cities. These special screening events include a 30-45 minute post-film Q&A session with filmmaker Bill Bennett and producer Jennifer Cluff. (Johnnie Walker Santiago will join them for screening events from February 27 onward). The film will officially premiere in Los Angeles on March 7 and in the weeks following will play more broadly across the U.S. and Canada, with the intent of hitting theaters in all cities with an American Pilgrims on the Camino chapter. Until then, enjoy this official movie trailer.
Discover more about The Way, My Way:
- Schedule of special screening event and other details
- The Way, My Way movie website
- The Way, My Way movie Facebook page
- Bill Benett website
- Dan Mullins’ video for “Somewhere Along the Way“.
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