The new movie, “The Weight,” is about a financially desperate single father, Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke), and his six-year-old daughter during the Great Depression. While looking for another run-down apartment after being evicted, Samuel is arrested by the police after they assault him for no reason in an alley. He then finds himself on a chain gang building a road, once again desperate to do his time and get back to his daughter after this huge injustice.

I was surprised to see Russel Crowe (J.J. Clancy) in a small part as the manager of the chain gang, who had some good acting scenes in this relatively low-budget movie. Ethan Hawke deserves credit for taking this role, which was shot almost entirely in the dense woods of Oregon, with several intense fight scenes and dangerous scenes on a river.