Scoop May 17, 2025
Film
The salt path
Homeless on the Walk with Corticobasal Degeneration
The Salt Path was a – justified – bestseller, the film adaptation of the book is now proving to be a “hit” as well. In the book, Raynor Winn tells how she and her husband Moth – their college-age children are out of the house – lost all their possessions in 2013 due to a disastrous investment; they became destitute and homeless. And that at the moment when, to make matters worse, Moth was diagnosed with Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), a rare progressive brain disease that usually starts with motor problems or with speech and thinking disorders. Those motor problems are always on one side of the body. In Moth’s case, this manifests itself in a tremor in his arm and a dragging leg. Prognosis, according to the neurologist in the film: four to five more years of life with, in the long run, sharply declining quality of life. Chance of cure nil, palliative care indicated. A walk along the English southwest coast may seem like the last thing on your mind, but that is precisely what both decide to do after all these job tidings. Call it a form of escapism.
In short, nonlinear flashbacks, we learn what preceded their trek, while chronologically following their trajectory in the meantime, and see how they sometimes struggle against the elements, Moth’s illness and lack of money, but they are also elated, don’t give up and are still in love. And how they have brief encounters along the way, with otherwise not always nice types.
The film is the feature debut of Marianne Elliott, who previously worked as a theater director. All the more remarkable how well she portrays the walk – which, of course, stands for more than just that – with great feeling for atmosphere, nature and landscape with panache but at a leisurely pace. For this she could count on two great actors: Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, who in sparse dialogues portray convincing, sympathetic characters, the former often and oh so understandably worried, the latter optimistically-laconical about their fate.
And lo and behold, the latter gets it right: when Moth abandons his pregabalin, it initially leads to nasty withdrawal symptoms, but eventually he does better. And that continues to this day, the creators report in the end credits. Both are still doing well.
Whether one may infer that it was nature that healed them, that they were “salted” as it is called in film and book, is doubtful. What is certain is that the film’s subtext, thankfully not obvious, is that life is contingent, like a trajectory or journey without purpose. And that is something in which apparently many viewers (and readers) recognize themselves.
Henk Maassen