In June 2014, lifelong Idaho friends Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray took on what seemed like an impossible mission — to hike the 5oo-mile-long El Camino de Santiago, a k a The Way of St. James, over challenging terrain and through rough weather in Spain.
Now, this sounds difficult, but not necessarily impossible, unless you realize that Justin pushed Patrick — who has a rare neuromuscular disease that weakens the muscles in his arms and legs — the entire way in a wheelchair.
In theaters across America tonight — there may still be tickets available here! — “I’ll Push You,” the documentary record of their epic journey, premieres as part of a Fathom event, in partnership with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
For those who don’t know, the Camino de Santiago is a network of Medieval Catholic pilgrimage trails. They lead to the shrine of Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northern Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the saint are interred.
Today, the Camino has become popular with many travelers who are not on a religious pilgrimage, but more seeking personal fulfillment.
I recently sat down with Justin and Patrick — who are both non-Catholic Christians — and director Terry Parish, and here’s some of what they had to say.
On why they did it:
Patrick: We knew it was going to be a struggle and at the end of the day we just knew it was an adventure we wanted to do together … but out of the whole journey, you experience so much raw human connection and you encounter a lot of hurt and pain people have experienced. A lot of revelation people have experienced.
It really reshaped my perspective on faith and on God. For me, in particular, I walked away with a greater appreciation for our capacity to love one another and what the implications of that are. I mean, I believe that so often people’s opportunity to experience God’s love is through the hands and feet of others and we don’t necessarily as a society embrace that to its full degree.
Justin: My bar was really low coming into this. So I was like, I don’t know how this is gonna go, so we’re just gonna try, but after looking back on it, my faith in humanity was restored.
We met so many people from so many walks of life and to be able to see that there are just really good people in this world and there’s some … unfortunately, there’s some bad, lot of things, we’re just bombarded by it, just the horrible things that are happening.
You know, they make good news but, you know, so unfortunately that’s just the way the world that we live in now, so to see fellow man coming together to help me to help us get from St. Jean (Pied de Port in France) to Santiago (de Compostela) and even beyond, beyond that, is something that I never really, didn’t expect.
I knew there’d be some help along the way but to what degree, yeah, we didn’t know. And just to see how much good there is still in this world.
On why Christian faith is not heavily featured in “I’ll Push You”:
Terry: I think their faith is on display in action, and certainly there were more than one prayer brought up. There was probably a conversation or two about God but, you know, I think for Chris (Karcher, the co-director) and myself and our own faith backgrounds, we were interested in taking up the action and being the observer of the action versus the observer of the … pontificating about the action.
So, and we, in doing so, we’re hoping that makes the film more accessible. There are plenty of films out there that will make the hard asks to go down to altars or to accept sacraments or to do something of that nature and this, that wasn’t the intention here. That’s not the road we chose to travel.
On what they learned about their fellow travelers who didn’t start out on a religious journey:
Patrick: What’s interesting is that everyone that I met — I don’t want to speak for these guys — but that I met on the trail, regardless of what their starting point was, what their original goal was, if it was just to see if I could do it. They have a moment of, oh my word, there’s so much more to my life than what I thought there was, there’s so much more capacity to love, there’s so much more potential in human interaction.
It becomes a moment where, whether they acknowledge the source or not, they’re seeing God for who He is, and you can’t run from the pilgrimage aspect regardless of your intention.
Terry: And the question naturally becomes, well what is God or who is God? And then, and then if I start to answer those questions for myself, it becomes apparent that whatever the intention is, there’s almost no choice but to orient towards what my understanding of God is on that Camino.
God is love, and there’s patience. Patience with one’s self, patience with others. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self control.
Justin: Yeah, I don’t know if I can say it any better than these guys, because my experience is the same. There’s no avoidance of orienting yourself towards God and being in some way, shape or form, a vessel for either receiving God’s love or trying, or being able to give it to somebody else.
The official Website for the movie is here. Skeesuck and Gray’s original book is here. Be warned, the movie is a raw depiction of the struggle along the Camino, and it is rated PG-13.
The friends now tour the country as motivational speakers. No doubt, the movie will become available later on DVD or maybe even streaming.
Here’s their TED talk:
And here’s the movie trailer:
Images: Courtesy Push, Inc.
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