Ethan Hawke: "If it helps fight fascism, I'm all for it"

Special correspondent in BerlinEthan Hawke He is not only one of the biggest stars of this year's Berlinale, but also one of the festival's most beloved actors, having presented all three installments of the Linklater's Trilogy, Boyhood and, just a year ago, Blue moonfor which he is nominated for an Oscar. But even he was caught up in the controversy this Tuesday during the presentation of his new work, the magnificent adventure film. The weight, because of the controversy surrounding this edition: the absence of a condemnation from the Berlinale regarding the genocide in Palestine and the power struggle between the press and the festival management regarding the questions that demand an explicit stance from creators on hot political issues

"Perhaps the last people you should ask for advice are a group of drunken artists and..." jet lag “Speaking of his films,” Hawke joked in response to a question about the role artists should play in the context of rising fascism in Europe and the United States. “That said, I believe in the power of cinema to affect people. And just as dreams heal us and prepare us to face a new day, I believe that cinema and festivals are responsible for creating a kind of collective dream,” he added, before concluding emphatically: “In any case, if it helps fight fascism, I’m all for it.” The weightPresented out of competition and set during the harshest years of the Great Depression, Hawke plays a widowed father struggling to make ends meet as a mechanic. Evicted and jobless, his situation worsens when he is arrested and sentenced to hard labor while his daughter is placed in an orphanage awaiting adoption. It is from this point that the film reveals its true nature as an adventure story that blends the prison genre, the survival and the thriller of action.

The actor completely owns the film and imbues the character with the nobility and laconic charisma of adventure film heroes from the 60s and 70s like Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Steve McQueen. Hawke himself acknowledges that the film's origin lies in the love that both he and the film's director, Padraic McKinley, share for this type of cinema. "I'm obsessed with those almost wordless performances that actors like Paul Newman or Steve McQueen gave. In my youth, those heroes offered you an aspirational vision of what masculinity, honor, and caring for others meant. And talking about why they don't make movies like that anymore, Padraic and I."

And so it is The weightA vibrant, physical action film with an extraordinary Hawke as the leader of a group of convicts who must transport a shipment of gold bars through forests, bridges, and rivers to buy their freedom. Excellent supporting actors—including a sly Russell Crowe as the head of the labor camp—tension, and camaraderie permeate a film that never loses sight of the characters' humanity and how the weight of an unjust and perverse system suffocates them. The only drawback is the cold, digital texture of images that cried out for much more warmth.