The Proposition
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| The Proposition | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The Proposition |
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| Directed by | John Hillcoat |
| Produced by | Chris Brown Chiara Menage Jackie O'Sullivan Cat Villiers |
| Written by | Nick Cave |
| Starring | Guy Pearce Ray Winstone Emily Watson Danny Huston |
| Music by | Nick Cave Warren Ellis |
| Cinematography | Benoit Delhomme |
| Editing by | Jon Gregory |
| Distributed by | First Look Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 5, 2006 (USA) |
| Running time | 104 min. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Proposition is a 2005 movie directed by John Hillcoat and written by Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt and Danny Huston.
Two other films with the same title were released in 1997 and 1998.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
| Principal Cast and Characters | |
|---|---|
| Richard Wilson | as Mike Burns |
| Noah Taylor | as Brian O'Leary |
| Guy Pearce | as Charlie Burns |
| Mick Roughan | as Mad Jack Bradshaw |
| Shane Watt | as John Gordon |
| Tommy E. Lewis | as Two Bob |
| Tom Budge | as Samuel Stoat |
| Danny Huston | as Arthur Burns |
| John Hurt | as Jellon Lamb |
| Emily Watson | as Martha Stanley |
| Ray Winstone | Captain Stanley |
[edit] Plot
Set in the Australian Outback in the 1880s, the movie follows the series of events following the horrific rape and murder of the Hopkins family, allegedly committed by the infamous Burns brothers gang. A violent gun battle between the police and Charlie Burns's (Guy Pearce) gang ends with the deaths of all of Burns' gang (along with two Asian prostitutes) except for Charlie and his younger, mentally slow brother, Mikey (Richard Wilson), who is wounded. Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) offers Charlie a proposition, whereby he and Mikey, can go free of the crimes they have committed, if Charlie kills his older brother Arthur (Danny Huston). Arthur is a mercurial psychopath who has become something of a legend and is so vicious that the aborginal tribes refer to him as "The Dog" and refuse to go near his camp. Captain Stanley is intent on bringing Arthur to justice, and uses Mikey as leverage. Charlie has nine days to find and kill Arthur, or else Mikey will be hanged from the gallows on Christmas Day.
We discover why Captain Stanley is intent on taming Australia: he has been forced to move there with his delicate wife, Martha Stanley (Emily Watson), and wants to make it an appropriate place for them to live. The Stanleys were also friends of the Hopkins, leading Martha to have nightmares about her dead friends and the unborn child one of them is revealed to have carried. Word spreads of Stanley's deal with Charlie, primarily from Stanley's corrupt subordinate, Sergeant Lawrence (Robert Morgan), causing disgust among the townspeople.
Shortly thereafter, the prissy Eden Fletcher (David Wenham), for whom Captain Stanley works, orders that Mikey be given one hundred lashes as punishment for the rape and murder of the Hopkins. Stanley is aghast at this, since that would surely kill him and he believes that Mikey is essentially innocent. This would also break his deal with Charlie. Stanley sends Sergeant Lawrence away with a group to "investigate" the reported slaying of a family by a group of Aborigines. Captain Stanley attempts to defend Mikey by gunpoint from the bloodthristy townspeople, but is overruled once Martha arrives, insisting on revenge for her dead friends. Mikey is then brutally flogged, and horrifically wounded. The formerly excited townspeople slowly become disgusted and Martha faints at the ghastly display. After 40 lashes, Mikey has collapsed and the whip is soaked with blood. Captain Stanley grabs the whip and throws it at Fletcher (staining his impeccable suit with blood), who in turn fires Stanley.
Meanwhile, Charlie rides a great distance in search of Arthur, drinking and apparently reflecting on what he will do. Along the way he encounters a verbose, drunken old man named Jellon Lamb (John Hurt). In the course of conversation, Charlie realizes that Lamb is a bounty hunter in pursuit of the Burns brothers and knocks him out. Later on, after sleeping on a rockbed, Charlie awakes and, before he can gather what's going on, is speared through the shoulder by a group of aborigines standing over him. Seconds later a gunshot is heard and the head of the aboriginal man who threw the spear explodes. Charlie then passes out.
Charlie wakes up in the camp of his brother Arthur, which is located in caves among desolate mountains. Arthur's gang consists of Samuel Stoat (Tom Budge), the young hothead who had shot the aborginal man who had speared Charlie; a woman named Queenie (Leah Purcell) who tends to Charlie's serious wounds; and a muscular aboriginal man called Two-Bob (Tom E. Lewis). As he recovers from his wounds, Charlie has many opportunities to kill his imposing brother, but still doesn't kill Arthur. Not too far away from Arthur's camp, Sergeant Lawrence and his men have found and butchered a group of aborigines. Arthur and Two-Bob find Lawrence's group while they sleep, ostensibly to get a horse for Charlie, but proceed to swiftly kill Sergeant Lawrence and all of his men. Before Arthur kills Lawrence, Lawrence tells Arthur that Charlie has been sent to kill him. While this occurs, Jellon Lamb enters Arthur's camp and ties up Samuel and Charlie, both of whom are sleeping. Without his realizing it, Lamb is shot from behind by the returning Arthur. Arthur then proceeds to begin torturing the still-living Lamb with a knife, but Charlie instead performs a mercy-killing on the prisoner.
Charlie decides that he wants to break out Mikey and informs Arthur. Arthur, Samuel and Charlie ride into town dressed in the clothes taken off of the officers Arthur and Two-Bob had killed, pulling behind them Two-Bob, posing as an aborigine that they've captured. Once at the jail, the men ambush and kill all the policemen there. Charlie and Two-Bob ride off with the badly-injured Mikey, who has never recovered from the flogging and dies shortly thereafter. As they bury Mikey, Two-Bob tells Charlie that all of this is Charlie's fault since he and Mikey left Arthur's gang.
Captain Stanley and Martha, who had become increasingly paranoid as they were ostracized by the townspeople after the flogging, let their guard down to have a peaceful, civilized Christmas dinner. Just then Arthur and Samuel burst in, with Arthur bent on "revenge" against Stanley. Arthur pulls Captain Stanley into the other room and brutalizes him, while Samuel taunts his wife. Arthur then shoots Captain Stanley in the shoulder, while Samuel begins to rape Martha. Charlie walks in and kills an unsuspecting Samuel, then shoots Arthur twice, after saying simply, "No more." Charlie deliberately leaves a gun out near Martha and the wounded Captain Stanley, but neither of them go for it. Charlie then finds Arthur hunched over on a hill nearby and sits down next to him. They sit quietly, watching the sunset, as Arthur dies.
[edit] Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack, titled The Proposition, was released shortly after the film in October 2005. The music was composed and performed by Cave and violinist Warren Ellis.
[edit] Critical Response
The Proposition has received largely positive reviews from professional film critics. [1]
[edit] The Proposition and Indigenous culture
Two acclaimed Indigenous Australian actors (David Gulpilil and Tom E. Lewis) have supporting roles in the film.
As noted in behind-the-scenes features included on The Proposition DVD, the film is regarded as uncommonly accurate in depicting indigenous Australian culture of the late 1800s, and when filming in the Outback, the cast and crew took great pains to follow the advice of indigenous consultants. In an interview included on the DVD, Lewis even compares the depiction of indigenous cultures in The Proposition to the landmark film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978). In addition, there is a warning before the film which states that it contains photographs of deceased Indigenous Australians, which is a taboo in their culture.[1]
[edit] DVD
The DVD was officially released in North America on September 19th, 2006.
The Tartan DVD release contains these special features:
(Disc 1)
- Audio commentary by Nick Cave and John Hillcoat.
(Disc 2)
- Exclusive Interviews with Guy Pearce and Danny Huston (25 mins)
- Meet the cast and crew (35 mins)
- Making of (118 mins)
- Theatrical Trailer
[edit] Awards
- Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 2005: Best Musical Score & Best Cinematography
- 2005 Inside Film Awards: Best Feature Film, Best Cinematography, Best Music & Best Production Design
- 2005 AFI Awards: Best Original Music Score, Best Production Design. Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography
- 2006 Venice Film Festival: Gucci Prize
