Violent, gruesome yet interlaced with moments of great visual beauty, The Proposition is an Australian outback tale circa 1880s as an attempt to bring an end to violence results in more bloodshed.
Looking to bring order to the outback town and surrounds, Captain Stanley (a magnificent Ray Winstone – The Departed, Sexy Beast) makes a proposition to the captured Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce – Memento, L.A. Confidential), a member of the notorious Burns gang. Kill your psychopathic brother Arthur (Danny Huston – The Constant Gardener, Hitchcock) or younger brother Mike (Richard Wilson – The Loved Ones, Birthday), currently in chains, will be executed. He’s given nine days to ride off into the remote landscape – with Stanley left to justify to the townsfolk and his wife (Emily Watson – Gosford Park, On Chesil Beach) the decision to release the outlaw.
The Proposition as directed by John Hillcoat (Lawless, Triple 9) is primal and volatile. Written by Nick Cave (who also provides with Warren Ellis the hypnotic soundtrack), malevolence begets malevolence as the characters contrast against an equally unforgiving landscape. Extreme it certainly is but also haunting, very poetic and very Nick Cave. An underrated Australian classic.
Rating: 84%
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