The Proposition

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The Proposition

77% Liked It
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The Proposition

David Gulpilil, David Wenham, Emily Watson, Guy Pearce, John Hurt

A law enforcer in 19th-century Australia's outback pits three notorious outlaw brothers against one another.

Id: 5357694

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Recent Reviews

The Proposition Recent Reviews
  • SirPant
    September 25, 2009
    SirPant
    This is a beautiful film! Bold and Brutal! John Hillcoat's debut is something quite special and the performances are faultless. The soundtrack is also sublime! Recommended!
  • JeT0425
    June 13, 2009
    JeT0425
    I am not usually a big fan of the western genre, but this film was very different than the usual western. I think the thing that made this film was the terrific screenplay by Nick Cave. It was brilliant and won a prize at the Venice Film Festival for Cave.



    The plot is...( read more) simple, yet very intriguing. A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother or else they'll execute his younger brother. Guy Pearce has never really impressed me (only once in [i]L.A. Confidential[/i]) and here is no different. There's something about him that is rather boring and flat. Ray Winstone on the other hand is terrific. Even when he doesn't say anything, you know what he's thinking. Brilliant performance by Emily Watson, also. I've never noticed her until a few weeks ago when I watched [i]Red Dragon[/i]. She is a terrific and underrated actress.



    I do believe that this film is a great one, one of the best of the year, too. The only thing wrong with it is Guy Pearce. I really did not like his character, nor his performance. It dragged the movie down. Whenever he came on screen I just wanted the scene to be over with. If they would have had another actor play Charlie Burns, then I might have liked it a lot more.
  • MovieGeek13
    March 19, 2009
    MovieGeek13
    Ranks among the better modern day westerns.
  • mrpopcorn
    February 20, 2009
    mrpopcorn
    "This land will be civilized."

    A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him 9 days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.

    REVIEW
    "The Proposition" is to trade a naive younger brother's life for an older diaboli...( read more)cal brother. Faced with this choice, Guy Pearce sets out to kill or trap his older brother whilst his younger brother is held captive in a small town prison. Whilst the police captain seems an honourable man, with uncommon strategic intelligence, the rest of the townsfolk are possessed with a small town, right wing mentality.

    Set in 19th Century pioneer outback Australia, there is a quirky richness that draws the viewer in. The landscape's sunset coloured backdrop visually dazzles and elicits a sensory surge. You can feel the heat, you can smell the sweat, you can taste the dust. Nick Cave's sound track complements the uneasy feeling you experience throughout this movie.

    The film seems slow to start, but the pace builds not unlike a horse going through its paces. The last few minutes are an exhausting flat out gallop. Looking at the film as a whole, I appreciated the slow context setting and the gradual build up. The acting is first class: I particularly liked the captain. It was enjoyable to see David Wenham play such an unpleasant little man for a change, as his characters are usually so lovable. The violence is rather brutal at times: gasps of shock were elicited at several points in the film.

    Not for the sensitive or the typical Hollywood cinema going types.
  • garyX
    December 30, 2008
    garyX
    A western set in the Australian outback, the proposition in question is made by Ray Winstone, a local police captain intent on civilizing the unkempt wilderness. He threatens to hang the younger brother of ex-outlaw Guy Pearce unless he hunts down and kills his older brother, a ...( read more)brutal rapist and murderer. The Proposition looks amazing, and having being written and scored by cult singer songwriter Nick Cave, sounds amazing as well. But somehow, it didn't quite gel for me. The characters are interesting, and the dialogue clever, but the relationships between the characters weren't quite there; it seemed like a collection of self consciously cool individuals and situations rather than a narrative flow. It's very low key in a similar way to The Assassination Of Jesse James and the sudden outbursts of graphic and brutal violence certainly grab the attention, but it concentrated too much on an unconvincing Ray Winstone and his wife rather than the far more interesting outlaws. It's certainly a film worth seeing, but it falls a little short of being great.
  • BurtHarbinson
    December 20, 2009
    BurtHarbinson
    Among the ranks of the immortal, is where this film belongs. An epic with unbalanced proportion, tipping the scales somewhere in between badass and unholy. A shockingly brutal portrayal of a time forgotten and drowned out by the American wild-west. A land more rugged and lawless ...( read more)than any western pilgrim could have imagined.

    I would consider myself a Western junkie. I get off on the boots and whiskey and the guns. In judging this film as a western, it takes the cake. I was floored from start to finish. A brilliant blend of all the necessary ingredients that coagulate into a dry and dusty cake of blood drenched dirt.

    Australia is the perfect setting for a sprawling epic such as this. Everything becomes larger in your spectrum, as the scenery opens up to endless skies, and purple and pink glowing sunsets.... Desert stretching to the edge of the earth, and dropping off suddenly out of view into outer space. A land so big, it seems one could even escape god's ever-watchful eye. The photography captures this essence perfectly. Not overdone, not overly stylish. A perfect cradle for this brilliant scenery.

    Casting was not over the top, but this film has a healthy list of established, and extremely talented actors. Guy Pierce of course being the most recognizable for me, as the guy from Memento. Great acting, all around.

    I want to talk about the blood now. So much blood... the reasoning behind the blood sparks much speculation. I read a review from Kyle Smith in the NY Post explaining this technique as a modern day violence cliché. Supposedly, the heavy atmospheric tones, supplied by the dramatic photography and deep cutting score, is merely a dressing for the horrific violence. Is this a way to make it seem classy, as if we don't really get off on it? I have seen plenty of western films that have just as profound of an effect without excessive blood. Maybe this is part of the appeal for those who rave about this film, and in the same respect- probably the same reason people are not impressed. Somewhere in between this blood-fest, is a very dramatic and heart-wrenching tale about family and love, that needs no embellishment to portray. That is how I justify this example of excess, is that the story would have done fine without.

    This Australian epic falls into a strange and beautiful world of cinema, not as easily defined in one genre. A western that holds true, and satisfies the inner cowboy. A bloody tale of revenge that penetrates the gray lines of moral boundary. Dramatic, and heartbreaking. Filmwork that will no doubt impress even the snobbiest film head. I send my recommendation to anyone who wants to see an example of a perfect film.
  • engrymfilm
    December 5, 2009
    engrymfilm
    One of the best endings I've ever seen.
  • captainsoso
    November 26, 2009
    captainsoso
    A crepuscular and fascinating western picture that revises the myth of western and also our deep humanity.
  • odonoghuematthew
    November 11, 2009
    odonoghuematthew
    Best Sound Mixing 2005 - Best Art Direction 2005
  • goatmilkpighead
    October 26, 2009
    goatmilkpighead
    Just fantastic. Another gritty, brutal Australian film. You don't have to feel like a cowboy movie to watch it. This definitely stands out as Nick Cave's masterwork in terms of movies, though he doesn't act in it.
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