Every year, the path to Santiago de Compostella, Spain is traveled by many hundreds of thousands of people from around the world in search of spirituality and contact. The pilgrimage, taken by all kinds of different characters, ends at the tomb of the apostle James, in the crypt of the city’s cathedral.

Picture gallery

The line between documentary filmmaking and reporting may be fluid, but the quality of Camino de Santiago is right there onscreen. A series of short interviews interspersed with verdant landscapes and winding trails shot using drones, this film by Jonas Frei and Manuel Schweizer, set to the rhythm of a motley and stereotypical soundtrack, has all the trappings of a simple TV documentary. While the camera politely eavesdrops on conversations in a dozen different languages and interviews a few of the characters on the way, it’s hard not to ask what inspired the filmmakers to go on this long journey, since they don’t seem have anything to say or question anything they see.