With the debut of their film The Way, the father/son team are also putting in the limelight a famous ancient pilgrimage route – The Camino de Santiago – or The Way of St. James in France and Spain. The movie is at once an armchair travelogue, a pleasing look at a father-son relationship, and an appealing story.

The movie was written and directed by Estevez, who also takes a supporting role (Daniel) behind the lead character (Tom) he wrote for his father Martin. The movie features Tom, a successful widowed eye doctor who hasn’t seen much of his wandering son Daniel. Then Daniel tells his dad he’s going to hike in Europe. But the next call brings Tom the news that Daniel has died on The Camino, and Tom goes to the region to retrieve his son’s remains. Then he decides to walk The Camino, and there he meets sojourners from all over the globe, all laden with personal burdens and dreams.

The route they travel is the famed medieval Catholic pilgrim’s path from France into Spain that crosses the Pyrenees and ends at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, one of Europe ’s most famous cathedrals. Martin actually explored the Camino by car in 2003, but later did much of it on foot during filming of The Way.

“The destination is the same, but the interior journey makes every experience different,” Sheen told AARP Magazine. “Being alone and walking for a purpose moved me,” he continued. “I was trekking along the same path that Saint Francis of Assisi and millions of pilgrims have walked for 1,000 years. As I walked, I was filled with satisfaction – something I felt often throughout the trip.”

Sheen’s Camino experience was also a connection with his family heritage. His father, Francisco Estevez, was from the northwestern Galicia province of Spain , location of the famed Santiago de Compostela cathedral. A crypt in that church holds what many believe are the remains of the Apostle Saint James.

The Estevez family film is probably encouraging modern day pilgrims to put the camino on their own travel bucket list.

European travel expert Rick Steves offers some advice at www.ricksteves.com:

“Walking the entire 500-mile long route takes about five weeks,” advised Steves. “That’s about 15 miles a day, with an occasional day of rest. This doesn’t work for everyone, but any traveler can use this route as a sightseeing spine, a string of worthwhile cities, towns, and countryside sights – and an opportunity to appreciate a bit of the joys and lessons that come with being a pilgrim.

"Pilgrims check in at the Camino office, he said, before embarking on their long journey to Santiago . They get a kind of passport, which they get stamped at each stop to prove the walked the whole way and earn their compostela certificate."

The route is well marked with yellow arrows and scallop shells, a symbol of both St. James and the Camino itself. Ancient pilgrims wore shells as a badge of honor to prove they made it. Today’s pilgrims carry gourds for drinking water, a walking stick, and a scallop shell dangling from their backpacks.

So if you'd like to have an armchair pilgrimage experience on The Camino before you decide to embark on your own rather rigorous trek, check in with Sheen and Estevez at your local theater.

Read more of Ruth Hill’s faith travel columns at Contemporary Christian Travel in the Washington Times Communities and follow her on twitter @christiantrav.