Monday, May 7, 2018

May 7

Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son
By Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez

Despite knowing little about this acting family and being familiar only with the work of Charlie Sheen (the black sheep), I found this a very engaging story - not only for Martin Sheen's (a/k/a Ramon Estevez's) unconventional actor's life, during which he dragged his wife and four kids to every set (whether Rome, the Philippines, Mexico, etc) - but also because of the strong bond between a father and his oldest son.  Their stories aligned nicely and it's clear that each deeply loves and respects the other, even though their paths are different; e.g., Martin, a Roman Catholic, has been married to his wife for over 50 years; Emilio, more a natural philosopher, never married the mother of his two kids.  Father and son used the time of filming Emilio's movie "The Way" (literally, "El Camino" [de Santiago] filmed in their ancestral homeland of Galicia, Spain) as a starting point from which to backtrack.  I watched the film when I had nearly finished the book and it added a helpful dimension.  This book provides a window into the lives of actors; even for those as successful as Sheen and Estevez, the work seems neither glamorous nor easy.  Their story, incorporating so many popular movies and TV programs, also serves as a mirror of American culture over the last half of the 20th century.

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