SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
A retired World War I veteran and mechanic Samuel Murphy (played by Ethan Hawke) is trying to raise his daughter Penny (Avy Berry) in Oregon during the Great Depression. After they’re evicted from their apartment while at church one Sunday, they scour the newspaper trying to find a new place to rent. When they locate one, Murphy ends up in a fight in an alley defending his daughter, resulting in his arrest. Terrified, Penny is hauled away by the authorities and put into a foster home. Meanwhile, Murphy’s put into a prison labor camp run by Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe). When the Warden motivates his crew with a day off by moving a boulder off a road blocking passage, Murphy sits the assignment out, knowing it’s immovable. But, when the Warden threatens the men will work double the next day if they fail, Murphy solves the seemingly impossible problem with ingenuity. Having earned the Warden’s trust, he’s given the opportunity to pick three men he trusts and lead a secret convoy of gold out of a mine, down river, on a five-day journey, away from government seizure in exhcnage for his freedom. Constantly facing threats from the outside world, inside the group and the treacherous mountainside, the question isn’t will they gold make it to the rendezvous point but rather will Murphy his group make it through the journey alive?
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
This film transports the audience to The Great Depression and is a riveting story with relatable characters. That’s all great but Ethan Hawke is the feather in THE WEIGHT’s cap. He was perfect in MOON KNIGHT, terrifying in the BLACK PHONE series and, of course, a dream in the BEFORE trilogy. Hawke is no stranger to being a natural star of the screen (and stage), but he gets everything possible out of the Murphy character and then some.
From his love and commitment to his daughter to trying to lead his men by example to wrestling with the moral dilemmas presented to him to serving necessary justice, Hawke makes the audience run the gamut of emotions. Many times, in period pieces specifically, the viewer finds themselves as more of a passenger. Here, you’re engaged in the quest and actively rooting for Murphy to complete his mission and get back to his daughter before irreversible damage is done.
Directed by Padraic McKinley — who, apparently, absolutely loves car-mounted POV shots — THE WEIGHT is gorgeous to look at. His history as an editor serves him well here as he makes his feature-film directorial debut.
While the score is imposing at times, it’s challenging in others. For example, choosing a closing song that was written and recorded 40 years after the time period you’ve just spent the last two hours living in doesn’t fit. The lyrics of “Call Me the Breeze” by Lynyrd Skynyrd reinforce the story, certainly, but the 1934 Cole Porter track “Anything Goes” or 1933’s “Gold Diggers’ Song” by Dick Powell could’ve better served the film, especially as the audience is walking out, leaving that lasting impression.
While THE WEIGHT falls just short of the “elite” category, it’s is a well-directed, beautifully shot, riveting drama. If you’re a fan of period pieces in the slightest, it’s absolutely worth your time and effort to go see in the theater, especially for Hawke’s performance.
JKG SCORE: 7.5 out of 10
Untitled Film Project 