‘The Weight’ review: Do convicts have dignity?

The film The Weight explores the ethical challenges faced by a convict through the story of Samuel Murphy, a mechanic and father struggling to support his young daughter. According to a review by Andrew Zuk in The Catholic Times, the Great Depression-era thriller follows Murphy after he attacks three men to protect his daughter, only to discover one was an undercover police officer.

The story depicts Murphy at a labor camp where Warden J.J. Clancy assigns difficult tasks to prisoners in exchange for time off their sentences. Clancy uses Murphy's situation to his advantage, knowing that Murphy must complete his sentence to prevent his daughter from entering the foster care system. The film's plot takes place during the era when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for all Federal Reserve mines to surrender their gold to the Federal Reserve Bank.