A few months back, I was scrolling through the “Upcoming” tab on the AMC app when I saw this movie listed for September. Intrigued by the title and poster, I decided to do some more research and watched the trailer for the film. I was instantly bought into the premise: an Oregonian man (Samuel Murphy, played by Ethan Hawke) amidst the backdrop of the Great Depression finds himself in prison and needs his sentence commuted or else his daughter will be awarded to the State and put up for adoption. The warden of the prison (Warden Clancy, played by Russell Crowe) takes a liking to Murphy and observes him to be a highly competent man, one of great willpower and integrity.
Seeing such a trustworthy man in a vulnerable state, Clancy devises a scheme to manipulate Murphy’s predicament for his own devices: FDR is set to seize all gold in the U.S., and a friend of Clancy’s who owns a mine needs to steal this gold before the government or his workers get their hands on it. Clancy enlists Murphy to head the job in exchange for the commutation of his sentence. If Murphy can successfully steal the gold and lead a team of convicts on a seven-day journey across the Oregonian wilderness, he will secure his reunion with his daughter.
Thus, the film gets its title “The Weight.” The gravity of his mission is both literally weighty (he and his men are carrying hundreds of pounds of pure gold) and figuratively weighty (the potentiality of resuming his fatherly vocation). As Murphy treks across the Oregonian wilderness, he faces impediments from every direction: his companions, rogue miners, and the treacherous terrain of the woods, but this supposedly “Nearly Biblical Tale of Good and Evil” (as labeled by Screen Daily’s early review) ultimately fails to transcend its classic “Western” genre in any meaningful sense. There is nothing new in the film. It doesn’t push boundaries or offer a fresh take on the genre. Thus, it fails to enter into the upper echelon of films that came out this year.
Despite its inability to offer a tale of good and evil that is “nearly Biblical,” The Weight is quite enjoyable and thoroughly watchable. It features a man of great integrity (a true hero who you can root for), beautiful cinematography amplified by the real-world immersion offered by the Bavarian woods the film was shot in, and a series of gripping and tense action sequences. The film was elevated by an insistence of real, practical effects and a refusal to use any computer-generated imagery outside of the bare minimum required for basically any action movie.
I would be remiss if I neglected to mention that my screening of The Weight featured a live Q&A from Ethan Hawke. It was really cool to hear Hawke discuss the production of the Weight. The number one takeaway I had from the film was that there was a commitment to artistic integrity amongst the crew both shooting and acting on the project. Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe both drove in actual 1930s Fords on dirt roads going nearly 50 miles an hour. There was a scene in the film where Russell Crowe was filmed driving his Ford onto the labor camp site, and Hawke remarked that there was a moment when Crowe was going so fast and refused to slow down that he thought, “I’m about to get hit by Russell Crowe.” There were also several scenes filmed crossing a freezing cold river in Bavaria while massive logs were barreling towards the crew in what ended up being one of the more intense scenes in the project.
My favorite anecdote from Hawke’s Q&A was one about the end of production. As they were wrapping, the film crew realized there weren’t enough shots of the crew hiking through the woods. They had run out of budget and could not pay for the extra shots. The entire cast and crew decided to front the bill, paying for makeup, transportation, and other expenses for the extra day of shooting. It was refreshing to hear this commitment to the art in an industry dominated by bottom lines, massive budgets, and egocentric corporations, directors, and actors.
Overall, I would rate Hawke’s “The Weight” a solid 6.7/10 and recommend a visit to the theatres to see it on the silver screen.
