The Proposition

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The Proposition

Promotional poster for The Proposition
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
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Proposition is a movie directed by John Hillcoat and written by Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt and Danny Huston. The film's production completed in 2004, and was followed by a wide 2005 release in Australia and a 2006 theatrical run in the U.S. through First Look Pictures. The movie was Rated R by the MPAA for strong grisly violence and for language.


Contents

[edit] Cast

Guy Pearce as Charlie Burns
Ray Winstone as Captain Morris Stanley
Emily Watson as Martha Stanley
Danny Huston as Arthur Burns
David Wenham as Eden Fletcher
Richard Wilson as Mike Burns
John Hurt as Jellon Lamb
Tom E. Lewis as Two Bob
Leah Purcell as Queenie
Tom Budge as Samuel Stoat
David Gulpillil as Jacko
Noah Taylor as Brian O'Leary
Mick Roughan as Mad Jack Bradshaw
Shane Watt as John Gordon
Rodney Boschman as Toby

[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.

The film opens with a violent gunfight between the police and Charlie Burns's (Guy Pearce) gang, which ends with the deaths of all of the gang 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 aboriginal tribes refer to him as "The Dog Man" and both the police and the aboriginals refuse to go near his camp. Captain Stanley muses that perhaps the bounty hunters will kill Arthur in time and then states his intention to civilize the harsh wilderness he has been forced to live in by 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 family, 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, 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 family. Stanley is aghast at this, since that would surely kill him and he believes that Mikey is innocent of the crimes committed. This would also break his proposition 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 face and 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 an inebriated 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 rock bed, 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), who shot the aboriginal man who had speared Charlie; a woman named Queenie (Leah Purcell) who tends to Charlie's wound; and a muscular aboriginal man called Two-Bob (Tom E. Lewis). As he recovers from his wounds, Charlie has many opportunities to kill his brother, but doesn't. 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 stomps Lawrence to death with his boot, 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.

Charlie decides that he wants to break out Mikey and informs Arthur. Arthur, Samuel and Charlie ride into town dressed in the clothes taken from 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 shoot open the door and invade their home. Arthur pulls Captain Stanley into the other room and brutally beats him, while Samuel taunts his wife. Arthur then shoots Captain Stanley in the shoulder. Charlie walks in and informs Arthur of Mikey's death; Arthur ignores the news and encourages Charlie to listen to Samuel sing as he attempts to rape Martha. Charlie then walks up to the unsuspecting Samuel and shoots him point blank in the head, then shoots Arthur twice, after saying simply, "No more." After this Arthur walks out of the house. Charlie looks at a gun on the table and then tells Captain Stanley "I'm gone to be with my brother." Charlie leaves the house and follows a trail of blood to find Arthur hunched over on a hill nearby and sits down next to him. Arthur asks Charlie what he will do now, and then slowly 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 Nick Cave and violinist Warren Ellis.

[edit] Critical Response

The Proposition has received largely positive reviews from professional film critics, earning an 86% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. [1] Roger Ebert, AM New York, Austin Chronicle and Entertainment Insider gave the film 4/4 stars. [2] [3]

[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.[4]

[edit] DVD

The DVD was officially released in the United States by First Look Pictures on September 19th, 2006.

Tartan Video's Region 2 DVD release in the UK was a two-disc release and 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

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/proposition/ Rotten Tomatoes: The Proposition
  2. ^ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060518/REVIEWS/60509003/1023/ :: rogererbert.com :: Reviews :: The Proposition (xhtml)
  3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0421238/Ss/0421238/iid_1094208.jpg.html?path=gallery&path_key=0421238
    imdb.com :: Photos :: The Proposition
  4. ^ The Proposition (2005) - Crazy credits

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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