The castle of Castrojeriz in fact appears for only a few seconds as the credits roll at the start of the film, just before we see Martin Sheen on a train, on the way to identify his son’s body in Sant Jean Pied de Port.
The opening credits are a cleverly woven selection of images, music and maps, and the castle, which is at one of the key villages, halfway along the Camino de Santiago, is a silent reference to the Spanish hinterland, steeped in historical conflicts and saturated in castles.