In The Way, My Way, Australian director Bill Bennett sets out to make a truthful film about a man who ultimately undergoes a fundamental shift in character and outlook by walking the Camino de Santiago. Photo: Supplied.
Against all odds, The Way, My Way is a true story that fascinates. Based on writer-director-producer Bill Bennett’s best-selling memoir of the same name, here’s an 800-kilometre pilgrimage that changed his life forever!
Bennett is a veteran figure on the Australian film scene, having directed the likes of noir road movie Kiss or Kill and knockabout comedy The Nugget.
Here he directs, produces and writes, but doesn’t play himself – that responsibility falls on Chris Haywood (Muriel’s Wedding, Kiss or Kill), who first worked with Bennett in 1985 on his first feature film, A Street to Die. Jennifer Cluff (Seven Little Australians, Facing Fear), 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 is the captivating chronicle of a stubborn, self-centred Australian man who decides to walk the long Camino de Santiago route through Spain. He doesn’t know why he is doing it … but one step at a time, it changes him and his outlook on life forever.
The Camino is an ancient pathway that winds all through Spain to the shrine of 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, but Bennett just knew that he had to do the hike.
More of a travelogue and a love letter to the Camino, this film reveals a whole new side of Bennett, who is now a five-time veteran of the trek. It’s a kind of cinematic contemplation on what draws him there. Bennett said he really didn’t want to make this film.
“I didn’t want to make a film about myself, about my failings and vulnerabilities and hardships which took me right to the brink,” he said.
“Finally, I decided to give it a shot – but then I was faced with the question: how do I make a film on the Camino and make it real? I decided the only way to tell my story truthfully was to shoot with a very small crew and use the actual pilgrims I’d walked with 10 years earlier. Of the 20 speaking parts in the film, only four are professional actors. The rest are pilgrims.
“They proved to be stellar. They set the standard. They held the truth, the authenticity. The professional actors had to step up to the pilgrims’ benchmark. In fact, we all had to, even those of us behind the cameras.”
It all had to point towards the authenticity of the Camino experience. With a small crew, they were able to work within the ebb-and-flow of the Camino, becoming invisible, and nimble. An estimated six million people a year walk at least some of the Camino.
According to the managing director for Maslow Entertainment Marc Wooldridge, this is the sort of film that people are craving right now.
“It’s feel-good, funny, inspiring and transportive,” Marc said. “People are also finding it deeply emotional and affecting, too. We are so grateful for all the support the film has received from cinemas in both Australia and New Zealand, and the results over the past weekend suggest that there is still a very long road ahead for this beautiful and life-affirming movie.”
Bennett’s independent film continues to inspire audiences. Box-office figures are up. Since its release in Australia and New Zealand, The Way, My Way has hit the significant $A1 million milestone across both markets. In 2023, only three Australian films surpassed that figure at the local box office (Talk to Me, Blueback, John Farnham: Finding The Voice).
The Way, My Way will achieve more in the coming days, having already become the third-highest-grossing Australian film of 2024, behind Furiosa and Force of Nature: The Dry 2.
The Way, My Way, directed by Bill Bennett, Maslow Entertainment, is screening in cinemas
