SummarySet against the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the 1880s Australian outback, The Proposition is a visually stunning tale of loyalty, revenge and the quest for justice in a land without rule. (First Look Pictures Releasing)
SummarySet against the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the 1880s Australian outback, The Proposition is a visually stunning tale of loyalty, revenge and the quest for justice in a land without rule. (First Look Pictures Releasing)
A movie you cannot turn away from; it is so pitiless and uncompromising, so filled with pathos and disregarded innocence, that it is a record of those things we pray to be delivered from.
The Proposition, a beautiful, bloody meditation on justice, family, and the trap of retribution, is in every respect an artful addition to the canon of six-shooter morality tales.
A classic.
Nick Cave teams up with long time collaborator John Hillcoat to produce one of the best westerns seen in many a year.
Brutal and uncompromising, this movie will stick in your head long after you see it.
A well-paced, violent and hard-edged western; it has the classic vengeance storyline, but it´s completely different from the other westerns out there. Very gritty script, brilliant performances, flawless cinematography. Coupled with a heart-rending score, this movie comes as close as they do to perfection.
It's the kind of movie we don't often encounter these days, and actually never did: A dramatically dense and morally complicated work, it's also a highly pictorial wide-screen entertainment with a dynamite cast, channeling the legacy of John Ford and Sam Peckinpah (and maybe Joseph Conrad too).
The Australian director John Hillcoat makes an audacious, unsettling American feature debut with The Proposition, a revisionist western that brings its own brand of sanguinary honesty to the genre.
Directed by John Hilcoat and written by iconic Australian musician and novelist Nick Cave (the two have previously collaborated, on 1988's "Ghosts... Of The Civil Dead"), The Proposition is a gritty and unflinching modern western set in rural Queensland in the 1880's. The film opens with a furiously chaotic shootout, bullets ripping through the tin shack where bushranger brothers Charlie and Mikey Burns are holed up following the **** and murder of a local family. The brothers are swiftly overwhelmed and captured by British expatriate Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone). Stanley is not satisfied with his victory, however, because the real villain remains at large - Athur, the eldest and most dangerous Burns brother is hiding in the ranges with the remainder of his posse. Rather than simply imprison them both, the captain presents Charlie with an ultimatum - track down and slay Arthur within nine days, or Mikey will hang from the gallows on Christmas day. It's a swift and effective introduction, giving us a telling taste of the violence and desperation that fill the rest of the film. Charlie locates his brother with ease, but gathering the courage and willpower to murder family is another matter. Arthur (Danny Huston) is an intellectual psychopath, quoting poetry and philosophising on life while carrying out brutal and heinous crimes. His eccentric personality and unflinching taste for extreme violence have developed for him a near-mythical legend status, and neither the local police nor the aboriginal tribesman are willing to hunt him down. Huston's brilliant performance is as charasmatic as it is unnerving, and is one of the highlights of the film. The bond between Arthur and the other posse members is unbreakable - the very definition of "mateship". As a result, he is fiercely determined to free Mikey and seek revenge on Stanley, and in no way suspects the impending betrayal from his brother.
Back in town, Captain Stanley faces his own dillemna - businessman Eden Fletcher, who all but owns the local law enforcement, has demand that Mikey receive one hundred lashes a preemptive punishment for his crimes. Stanley knows that the ordeal would surely kill the boy, and in doing so nullify his agreement with Charlie and bring down the wrath of the remaining gang members. It's a harsh and uncomprimising narrative - can Stanley resist the bloodlust of the townsfolk and stay true to his moral code while still managing to bring about justice?
The performances are exemplary, the entire cast potraying their characters with comfortable ease. The Proposition is filled with a vast array of minor characters, mostly crude and cruel men who are as much a product of the harsh country as they are of their convict backgrounds.
Cave's script is tight and focused, the dialogue spot-on. The score, also written and performed by Cave with the assistance of violinist Warren Ellis, is unusual but highly effective, filled with murmering whispers and bleak soundscapes. The cinematography is absolutely breathtaking, perfectly capturing the achingly beautiful landscape with wide, open shots. These elements come together to create a realistic insight into colonial Australia, perhaps the most accurate recreation to date.
The Proposition has been praised for its cynical but accurate potrayal of white/aboriginal relations in colonial Autralia; the white townsfolk treat the aboriginals in an extremely patronizing and condenscending manner. The racial juxtaposition is perhaps best exemplified by Captain Stanley's property - a fenced-off recreation of traditional (and relatively luxurious) English housing that greatly contrasts with the sorrounding countryside. The colonists are stubborn intruders, attempting to bring "civilization" to the vast land and in doing so destroying a rich and unique culture formed over thousands of years. A refreshing take on the dying western genre, The Proposition is so vigorously paced, so shocking in its violence and so beautifully shot that it demands the viewer's full attention. I can't recommend this one enough.
Decidedly average western set in 1880's Australia. The cast and production is great but the plot and screenplay was lacking anything special in such an oversaturated genre as this. Can't say the music worked for me. Definitely worth a look.
This is alright. The cinematography is great and the acting is phenomenal. John Hillcoat is also clearly very talented as a director and it shows here. The setting is perfect for this film and provides a great backdrop for everything. In addition, the story is compelling and really has you hooked from beginning to end. It was hard to look away at times as you awaited what unfolds. The score is also marvelously composed and utilized. However, for me, the film was far too violent. The graphic violence depicted distracted from everything else. A lot of the violence was unnecessary as well, as it did not need to all be depicted. The film is very bleak and depressing, but it did not need to become coated in blood as well. A lot of the violence could have been excluded in favor or other elements that still communicate the overall message. Overall, this one could have been a lot better if it just toned down its over the top violence, which is a shame.
It's so harrowing that I gave up on this before the end. There's brutality, violence and racism. If it had a bit more hope in it I might have watched it again sometime before I die. As in other films, John Hurt is nutty, Guy Pearce determined, Emily Watson emotes and Ray Winstone mutters. The sunset shots are lovely, and it's an eye-opener for non-Australians, but that's all I can think of to say that's positive.
This is an Aussie copy of an ‘oater’ – an outback ‘western’ with stylish photography to lure the tourist trade – accompanied by the now expected ‘borrowings’ from Tarantino and Spaghetti Leone. It’s a blood-spattered story scratched out by Nick Cave (possibly between one of several dry-out sessions) and offers a range of utterly despicable characters. Some of whom seem to change personas along with scenes changes as they navigate gaping holes in credibility, and much crude language. Cave also penned some forgettable songs that tend to add little, Warren Ellis’s score though, comes across a little better. Director John Hillcoat (Ghosts of the Civil Dead) seems more intent on creating style than keeping track of the story threads or continuity. It rambles on with slow, uneven pacing, resulting in an ‘arty’ hodgepodge --coming off as little more than a string of sadistic pretensions-- while copying other so-called ‘historical’ fictional bloodbaths. Those who are diehard fans of Cave’s morbidity or who like style-over-substance won’t be too disappointed but many others will end up very bored or repulsed.
Production Company
UK Film Council,
Surefire Film Productions,
Autonomous,
Jackie O Productions,
Pictures in Paradise,
Pacific Film and Television Commission,
Film Consortium,
National Lottery through UK Film Council