The Proposition [Blu-ray] [2006] [DVD]

A new cinematic sub genre now exists. The Australian western. The Proposition though transplants the mythic landscape of The American versions into a broiling sun/sand blasted fly plagued hell hole. It's not a nice place, slavered in heart that regularly fluctuates between 40-50 degrees centigrade. You sort of wonder why anyone would want to be there in the first place.

But there people are, in 1880 the British have set up a settlement in Banyon, a newly established town in Queensland. Overseen by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) who along with his wife Martha (Emily Watson) have made a futile attempt to relocate their homeland into this godforsaken place with their net curtains carefully tended garden and roast Sunday lunches the settlement is under a pall of fear after a vicious gang of outlaws led by the psychopathic Arthur Burns (Danny Huston) have slaughtered a family of settlers. Stanley eager to tame this frontier land hunts down and captures Burns brothers Charlie (Guy Pearce) and his semi-retarded kid brother Mikey (Richard Wilson) and offers Charlie a gut wrenching proposal. In order to save Mickey and himself from the hangman he must hunt and kill his older brother.

Given 9 days to carry out this onerous task Charlie sets out on a journey redolent of Marlow's search for Kurtz in Conrad's "Heart Of Darkness", into an unforgiving unknown with god knows what horrors at the end of it.

The Proposition is as, everyone remotely interested in the film knows, is written by Nick Cave , and anyone familiar with his music, most notably it's preoccupation with death , murder and brutal lyricism , and also his novel "And The Ass Saw The Angel" will not be too surprised at the levels of violence. The blood letting is in all truth a little over the top straying too close to horror grand guignol at times but the exceptional performances by all the cast with notable cameos from John Hurt as aged bounty hunter Jellon Lamb and the expressive script more than compensate.

Directed by John Hillcoat who has collaborated with Cave on the film "Ghosts of The Civil Dead" who in turn wrote the rather fine sound track for Hillcoats "To Have And To Hold"( Cave provides the soundtrack here along with Bad Seeds stalwart Warren Ellis) the films themes are multi layered and complex utilising a number of dichotomous situations- family ties versus survival, civilisation versus the frontier, the subjugation of an indigenous population versus their willing co-operation , to produce a film that echoes richly with themes common with the traditional western yet gives them a slightly contemporary sadistic twist without compromising any of it's poetry or emotional resonance.

The western is alive and well and currently residing in Australia, but it's a more savage beast by far .

*May contain spoilers. Or may not *

'The Proposition' reunites writer Nick Cave with director John Hillcoat - the pair previously collaborating on 1988's grim prison movie 'Ghosts...of the Civil Dead' (Cave & the Bad Seeds also provided the soundtrack to the so-so 'To Have & To Hold'). Fans of Cave's records will note he has often nodded towards this kind of territory in songs such as 'Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow'), 'Jack the Ripper' & 'A Box for Black Paul', as well as his classic spin on Southern Gothic found in his sole novel to date, the brilliant 'And the Ass saw the Angel.' 'The Proposition' nods to the Old Testament side of Cave's work, one that he has veered away from since 1997 in his music, and it certainly has the feel of writers like William Faulkner & Flannery O'Connor.

The setting of the film gives an interesting spin on the Western, a genre that often surfaces in a manner that is spun in a direction - the indie film ('Dead Man'), the sub-Searchers wannabe ('The Missing'), the Costner vehicle ('Open Range') & a total failure such as the dire 'Dust.' Cave and Hillcoat bring their respective identities to this genre, nodding to the colonial past of Australia, apparent from the opening period photographs and the Aboriginal slaves. Cave's work recently has nodded to history and war (single 'Nature Boy' alluded to Vietnam, as did his unproduced screenplay for 'Gladiator 2'), and here his screenplay nods to a difficult period in Australian history, that many people will know through stuff like Ned Kelly.

The film opens with a violent shootout, which concludes with Charlie (Guy Pearce) & Mikey Burns being captured by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) who offers the former the proposition of the title: Mikey will hang on Christmas Day if Charlie doesn't track down and kill his brother Arthur (Danny Huston) who is holed up in a place where even the Aboriginal slaves won't go and who has committed a murder/rape in Stanley's area recently. Charlie has no choice, so sets off on his journey which recalls the visionary landscape found in Cave's novel - it should be noted that the cinematography is excellent and the whole cast and crew went out on a limb shooting in such a locale! (I'm guessing Cave stayed at home?)

The film sets up the birth of modern Australia under colonial rule, Stanley caught between doing the right thing and getting results for his boss (an unpleasant soul he shares some of the qualaties of Empire representatives found in films like A Passage to India and Lagaan). Stanley attempts to shield his wife from the horrors of the world they live in, though in a key scene Stanley's wife (played by the wonderful Emily Watson) plays a role in a brutal scene that recalls the scourging of Christ. Stanley knows what this means, leading to the punishing conclusion in which Charlie finds another path...

'The Proposition' is a bleak take on the Western, hard hitting stuff and the best example of the genre in years. All of its violence is justified, some of it reminded me of Cronenberg's 'A History of Violence' - I liked the way Arthur & Stanley's altercation took place off screen like Shakespeare (the wrapping of Stanley's head in a Union Jack was interesting also!). A great film and well worth watching, this DVD adds a bonus disc of extras that are of interest; the supporting cast is all fantastic (great to see Noah Taylor in there, he's always been a favourite of mine) and the music by Cave and fellow Bad Seed Warren Ellis is brilliant. There simply isn't a film like this - imagine Sam Peckinpah with less camera trickery and a proper script!

The Proposition will have you fixed from the opening scenes; a terminal gunfight exposes the brutality and sheer fear factor that occurs when under suppressive and effective gun fire, and the film makers (for once) put aside the myths of protection from flimsy materials. If this was not enough the action is then thoroughly supported by a thrilling, intriguing and well acted film, Guy Pearce and Ray Winstone are formidable in their roles. The storyline is simple but thoroughbred and the characters so well presented that you feel deep inside each psyche by the film end; this is a tremendous achievement. This film is extremely violent but it is the charactres that captivate not the acts within it. I watched this film four times, on the latter three I focused on one character at a time and from that gained a slightly different perspective - this is a great film, and should be in anyone's Top 20. This is frontier Victorian Australia and it was tough then, and brutal - this film lays all this bare for all to see. Brilliant, thank you. Some will despise this film for content, but it is powerful indeed to represent things how they really are - although this would leave me slightly troubled as to how they got their facts right! My own awareness comes from personal experience in the middle east.