Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago

Lydia B. Smith (2013, U.S., 84 min.)

“It’s not what you take with you, but what you leave behind.” Every year over 200,000 people of all ages, nationalities, and backgrounds share a deeply spiritual and emotional journey to the city of Santiago de Compostela. A 500-mile walk through the mountainous highlands of Spain is incredibly humbling–a physical journey of backpacks, boots, and blisters. But it is equally a spiritual and emotional journey with oneself. The psychological wrestling with questions of purpose and perseverance are an equal part of why so many people travel the journey. 

Lydia B. Smith’s Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago chronicles the pilgrimages of six people from all over the world with different reasons for walking the Camino–from bonding with friends to finding new directions in life to overcoming addiction. Each share incredible pain, tears, triumphs, jokes, and frustration along their journey. Once strangers, by the end you will feel like you know each and every one of these people as close friends! The daily ritual of walking breaks down barriers between cultures, language, and misconceptions. All of which raises questions about the role and value of any kind of travel. While emerging issues about greenhouse gas emissions from air travel and the impacts of travel on local cultures are real and important, travel remains an incredible force to cultivate a more compassionate perspective on the world, including (perhaps) what scholar Ursula Heise calls an “eco-cosmopolitan” point of view. Join us as we consider these issues and more while walking with these engaging people across Spain. Buen Camino!

(Shown in partnership with the Love Your Planet film series)