Bill Bennett’s beloved 2013 memoir comes to the screen in the form of this picturesque, rambling, more-or-less autobiographical drama.
How to watch The Way, My Way in New Zealand
The Way, My Way is in New Zealand cinemas now.
The Way, My Way
What is The Way, My Way about?
One fine day, middle-aged (if we’re being kind) Bill decides to walk the Camino—that’s the Camino de Santiago, an ancient (and 800-mile-long) pathway that winds all through Spain to the shrine apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, tucked away in the north-western corner of the country. Many take the journey as an act of religious faith, some do it for the Insta. Bill isn’t sure why he’s doing it—he just knows that he has to. And so off we go.
That’s more or less it in terms of plot, with The Way, My Way holding onto its narrative by the lightest possible grip. The film is more of a travelogue and a love letter to the Camino. The real Bill Bennett is now a five-time veteran of the trek, and his film is a kind of cinematic rumination on what draws him there.
The cast of The Way, My Way
If Bennett’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s a veteran figure in Australian film scene, having directed the likes of noir road movie Kiss or Kill and knockabout comedy The Nugget in his time. Here he directs, produces, and writes, but doesn’t play himself—that duty falls to Chris Haywood, who first worked with Bennet back in 1985 on his first feature film, A Street to Die. Jennifer Cluff, Bennett’s real life wife, plays his on-screen partner, and Pia Thunderbolt (Three Thousand Years of Longing), and Laura Lakshmi (Colin from Accounts) are also setting foot on this well-trod highway.
The Way, My Way trailer
Why we’re excited about The Way, My Way
We’re not sure if that’s the right word, but this meditative, deeply personal film certainly has us intrigued.
