Thursday 14th February, 12 – 2.30pm at LCI

Watch this award-winning documentary and discuss experiences and theologies of pilgrimage.

This event is part of our Perspectives on Pilgrimage trilogy, consisting of a film, a book and a pilgrimage around Leeds.

Walking the Camino is a total immersion experience that captures the trials and tribulations associated with a group of modern pilgrims who decide to walk the ancient path, the Camino de Santiago. The cast of people featured in the film run the gamut of ages (from age 3 to 73), as well as nationalities, religious backgrounds and experiences on the Camino.

Annie from Los Angeles, who, with a typical can-do attitude, was called to do the Camino for spiritual reasons. She soon comes face-to-face with her own innate competitiveness, especially when the Camino’s intense physical challenge starts to take its toll on her.

Jack and Wayne are two well-travelled Canadian retirees. Wayne, 65, is a recent widower who walks to honour his wife, and Jack, 73, is an Episcopal priest who performed the funeral for Wayne’s wife. Jack always wanted to walk the Camino due to his interest in history. Wayne loves the “one-way” nature of the Camino, which represents leaving his past and walking toward his future.

Misa is a health and sports student from Denmark who considers herself to be spiritual but not religious. She sets out to travel alone to become more connected with herself, but when she meets William, the only other pilgrim that can keep up with her notoriously fast pace, her intentions get pushed aside.

Sam is a Brazilian woman in her thirties who was desperate for some force to turn her unhappy life around. Sam left behind everything she knew in Rio de Janeiro, purged her life of nearly all possessions, and fled with a one-way ticket to Spain. Even though she suffered from clinical depression, she decides to throw away all of her prescribed medication, trusting that the Camino – the meditative act of walking, the nature, and the people met along the way – will restore balance to her body’s chemistry.

Tomás, 30-something, athletic and very charming, was torn between kiteboarding on the coast or “hiking” the Camino. He chose the Camino because it was more of a physical challenge. He gets what he asks for, as his biggest challenge becomes the immense physical pain that he experiences. He must learn to persevere as the struggle to complete the Camino becomes more painful with every step.

Tatiana is a French 26-year-old single mother who sets out for the Camino because of her devotion to God. She brings her brother Alexis and three-year-old son along with her on the* trek. Originally, Tatiana was delighted to have her brother with her on the Camino, especially for sharing the responsibility of her son. Things quickly become challenging for her, however, as Tatiana and Alexis begin to argue at every turn. Her quest to seek a richer relationship with God is tested as she is forced to face the problems in the relationships with her brother.

The star of the film, the Camino itself, is showcased with elegant cinematography that captures and depicts the gorgeous scenery and breath-taking vistas, from the raindrops on leaves to the fields of grass, mist-covered mountains, colourful sunsets and truly inviting local people and historic surroundings. The film captures the personalities and inner challenges of the pilgrims and their transformations along the journey. You get to experience the drive, questions, the pain, the joys, and the revelations that these modern-day pilgrims find along the way.

Book via Eventbrite here.