Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Danica Curcic, Lars Brygmann, Kristian Halken, Christian Rubeck
Intro:
… a satisfying and enjoyable film.
This dramedy from Denmark – which is largely set in Spain – almost gets the balance between comedy and drama right. Peppered with brilliant one-liners plus a dash of romance, the laughs tend to take a backseat in the second half, but they’re still there.
Camino is the story of a pair of uneasy travelling companions – a sour father, Jan (Lars Brygmann, Riders of Justice) and his thirty-something daughter, Regitze (Danica Curcic), who are disconnected from each other and struggle even to make small talk.
They have been thrown together by the dying wish of Regitze’s mother/Jan’s wife – to walk the Camino de Santiago together, the famed 280-kilometre Christian pilgrimage that takes 11 days. This isn’t a faith-based movie, although Jan does offer historical notes and the occasional religious commentary about the places that they visit. Jan is religious and his late wife was a minister. Regitze is not especially religious but when she tells him of a particular part of the Bible that she likes, he hilariously dismisses her in his deadpan way, telling her that she has a “bourgeois interpretation of the New Testament.”
Co-Writer/Director Birgitte Stærmose gets the most out of the sensational scenery as well as the fine cast, with many of the supporting characters adding to the humour. The two leads are excellent, with Curcic’s Regitze the touchstone of the film – she’s relatable, and she’s hiding something about herself from her father, and you feel the weight of her secret as they walk the pilgrims’ path.
Camino is about a journey – both physical and emotional – and it really transports you to Spain in the summertime, as the duelling pair spend nights in hostels, encountering and re-encountering others also walking the Camino.
Deep into the film, the plot thickens with a dramatic turn, and while the emotive discussions between dad and daughter are revealing and involving, the sense of journey from this point onward feels stalled. Yet Camino remains a satisfying and enjoyable film. You may leave the cinema feeling like you’ve just been somewhere…
