The Naked Pilgrim rolls on

[Sally Haden]

Thanks William for your comments.
Though I don't really see it like that!
Yes, if you appreciate Brian Sewell as an art critic, then maybe it drops
off for you.
I didn't know him at all before the programme and so when I watched, I was
quite startled by his approach, which was as a formidable critic with wit
and intellect.  I hadn't expected such a person to make the programme. In
fact I thought it was rather silly early on.
So I was moved by his reactions as the miles rolled by, his depressed mood
and almost loss of interest in the middle.  I feel that in fact he opened
himself to the Camino much more than he was willing to admit. There was a
kind of non-stated or silent honesty which said it all, I thought.  The fact
that he had those conversations with the two French girls at the end, where
one of them said "Jesus is just waiting for you, at the door of your heart,
waiting for you to open the door!"... that tells me that he was affected,
even if he refused to acknowledge it.  And the final moment where he runs
into the sea naked is the final curtain, leaving a space where you can't
help but think a little "wow", cos he leaves you suspended.

Okay, I haven't been on the Camino yet myself, but I feel sure there must be
many different kinds of conclusions and effects on people... so can we say
what it means to open oneself to the Camino?  And isn't the point of a
pilgrimage - at least one point - to leave behind what one is, to stop being
how one has been accustomed to be, so that one can discover the new?  Sewell
stopped being an art critic!??....and became a confused, frustrated and
emotional human being.  Great.  For me that is an achievement, cos that
requires honesty and courage.
Sally


>I had not realised that Jeffrey was not able to see the last two episodes.
>The penultimate episode was a shortened one which covered Burgos Cathedral
>and Fromista and pointedly not Leon Cathedral but a bar opposite.
>The last episode covered his short ride into Santiago, a tour of the
>cathedral and parador, part of pilgrims mass and a view of the pilgrims
>meal at the Hoastal dos Reyes Catolicos.  He then drives to the coast and
>burns ALL his clothes and disappears out to sea.
>The in the last episode a very emotional Mr Sewell is still not able to
>open himself to the camino, knows it and regrets it.
>Having seen all the episodes my own feeling is that it started as a good
>art history documentary, the narrator looses interest in the mid section
>and ends on a emotional basis which is a shame as Mr Sewell is such a good
>art critic even if you don't like what he says.
>William

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