María's Way

A small bird chirrups in a cage, a chained dog barks, and at the crack of dawn an old woman named María opens her stall along the famous pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. She marks off the pilgrims in a notebook as they pass by and offers them a special old stamp as a memento of having reached this point in their journey. Sometimes she provides sarcastic commentary. When she sees a nun with gold teeth, she wonders aloud how they tally with her faith. But of course, she continues, the ostentatious Vatican itself crushes the Christian message underfoot. Some of the pilgrims bother to stop and talk to María, who is not always a paragon of affability. A jolly young German passerby takes a picture of the film crew behind the stall and is considerate enough to dip into his pocket for a coin. Maria, meanwhile, has fallen into a snoring doze. With its static shots, is a gentle account of the daily grind for someone who spends her life at the side of a busy tourist route and whom tourists view as a curiosity.