The Proposition
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Movie Reviews of The Proposition
Movie Review: Stunning and Challenging
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved everything about this movie: the novelty of an Australian Western; the freshness of viewing racism from perspectives other than American blacks and whites (in this case, Aboriginal indigenous people vs. white colonialists); the absence of likeable characters- any virtue evidenced by Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) was only due to the loathsomeness of those around them; and the pointless cycle of revenge killing. This is the antithesis of a feel-good story, and depicts the moral relativity of an extreme environment. The movie is extremely violent, but importantly, not pointlessly so; I'll take The Proposition's brutality over Scorsese's The Departed's any day of the week, for its realism, its appropriateness in context, and its evocation of sympathy.
This is largely a movie about setting, and about how a stark environment can beget an obdurate, stark people. It's the late 19th Century Australian extreme version of how American cities bear witness to greater violence during particularly hot summers- in the Proposition, every day is sweltering, everyone is pissed, and everyone is violent. The movie simply could not have done a better job of conveying that setting: the characters are so dirty you can almost smell them through the screen; Nick Cave's bleak musical score is hauntingly beautiful (Cave wrote the script as well); and the scenery is craggy, and the whole landscape looks like an overdeveloped photograph. It's a beautiful combination, though, and I daresay without any proof that the movie is an authentic depiction of life in that area at that time. A stunning film.
Movie Review: Best Doggone Western In The Southern Hemisphere
Summary: 5 Stars
This 2005 Australian film hit limited theatres in the US last May without much fanfare. Too bad for the filmmakers, because they could have probably done a lot better than a $2 million box office if had they marketed the movie a little bit better. And too bad for the American movie going public, because a much larger audience should have been treated to one of the best movies of the past 2 years.
The first comparison that comes to mind is Eastwood's The Unforgiven. But rest assured, The Proposition is no imitation. It is a classic Western that ranks right up there with the best in the genre. The Proposition is realistic. It's suspenseful. It's brutal. It's well acted. It's well directed (by little known John Hillcoat).
In the 1880s, after the rape/murder of an Australian Outback family by Arthur Burns, his two brothers and their pals Sam and Two Bob, Captain Stanley (popular character-actor Ray Winstone) captures Charlie Burns and Mikey Burns and offers Charlie "The Proposition": Charges will be dropped against Charlie and his young, impressionable brother Mikey if Charlie hunts down and kills his older brother Arthur. But there is a stipulation: Charlie has to find and kill Arthur in 9 days or Mikey will be hung on Christmas Day.
Why would Stanley make a Proposition that results in the just deserts of only one of the rapist/murderers? Because Arthur is the misanthrope even though Arthur would argue that he and his band are not misanthropes at all...they're just family!
This is not just a great Western. It's a great movie. Add it to your collection.
Movie Review: I know I'll think about The Proposition tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Summary: 5 Stars
A marvelous, haunting, brutal, tortured descent into the outback of right and wrong, The Proposition is as good, no as great a "Western" I've seen since Eastwood's Unforgiven.
A beautiful evocation of a time and a place, cinematically stunning, musically spare and poetic, unremitting in it's executions of the will of violence and the struggle of men.
But to me, The Proposition is a rumination on White Man's Burden, a fraught incursion into the moral morass of Australia's Aboriginal genocide and Christian hypocrisy, ignorance and fear. The disregard for the Aboriginies is pivotal to Arthur's (Danny Huston) madness, while Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) must toe a line, one which nobody seems able to comprehend, in pursuit of civilization. Biblical homage can't get too much closer than one brother's murder of another, and the paradoxical simplicity/majesty of the basic acts resonates vibrantly throughout The Proposition.
So, while I am less familiar with director John Hillcoat, I do know Nick Cave, so I can more easily attribute my visceral movements to his artistry, with no disregard to Hillcoat's direction. Nor any toward Guy Pearce, a chilling Huston or-(one of my absolute favorite actors)-Winstone.
This is truly one of the best films of recent memory.
Movie Review: A Masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars
Guy Pearce and the entire cast deliver great performances in this western drama set in the Australian outback. The plot is very simple; Charley Burns played by Guy Pearce and his little brother Mikey Burns played by Ray Winstone are wanted fugitives who are captured by Captain Stanley played by Ray Winstone. After he captures them in a bloody shootout, Captain Stanley has a talk with Charley and tells him that in order for Mickey to live he will have to track his older brother Arthur Burns played by Danny Houston and kill him.
Having no choice, Charley embarks on a journey through the Australian outback in search of his brother. The screenplay, the performances the plot and the setting make for a truly enjoyable picture. I love movies that have these elements and this movie delivers with flying colors. Now the movie is very violent but it doesn't have a lot of action. It is slow but dark and the Australian setting goes perfect with the story. I strongly recommend this movie for any fan of good, dark, weird and powerful acting and a great screenplay to back it up.
Movie Review: An Ultimate Western
Summary: 5 Stars
There's nothing like a good western and "The Proposition" delivers the sharp-shooting goods non-stop. Director John Hillcoat has a true knack for thrusting the feel and grit of the Australian Outback in your face and keeping it there. From the first moment of a hardcore gunfight, we soon learn that Capt. Stanley has captured two of the four Burns brothers, noted for their murderous and especially heinous past. The Captain's proposition is for Brother Charlie to find and kill his older brother, Arthur. Otherwise, he will kill his younger brother, Mikey. Thus, Charlie ventures to the Outback. The large scale cinematography makes one feel like dirt is in your mouth and death is at your door. This is not for the timid, as Hillcoat bloodies the landscape just as much as any Clintwood western. It's graphic as hell. The final act shouldn't be a surprise, but Hillcoat pulls off a stunt of `switch and bait' that will make you laugh with shock even as you shake your head in disbelief. This is a classic western by way of a rough, vicious and clever Australia.