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DVD Review: The Proposition |
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| Written by Trent Daniel | ||||||
| Thursday, 04 February 2010 | ||||||
 The Proposition is a western starring Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Guy Pearce and Emily Watson. Directed by John Hillcoat. After seeing how fitting the Australian Outback was as a setting for a Western, I am surprised it hasn’t been used more often. Desolate, threatening, untamed, yet beautiful, the Outback works just as well as John Ford’s beloved Monument Valley or Sergio Leone’s fearsome Spain. The Proposition, a violent and powerful Western by John Hillcoat, has been favorably compared to Cormac McCarthy’s controversial Blood Meridian (a novel considered a masterwork, yet so violent and despairing it might be unfilmable). The Proposition mirrors the novel in that it captures untamed men let loose in an untamed world, and that any attempts at civility might prove futile. The plot: Captain Stanley (the excellent Ray Winstone) attempts to bring some semblance of law to the Outback. He successfully captures two of the three notorious Burns brothers; wily yet wounded Charlie (Guy Pearce) and simpleton Mike (Richard Wilson). Unfortunately, the main brother, cunning and savage Arthur (Danny Huston) escapes. The brothers are guilty of a heinous crime: perhaps out of entertainment more than anything, the brothers, led by Arthur, murdered a whole family, including a pregnant wife. Captain Stanley makes the following proposition: correctly seeing Charlie’s soft spot for his simple brother, the Captain will pardon both brothers in exchange for Charlie capturing or killing Arthur. If not, Mike will hang. The acting is on par with the cinematography in capturing the power of this film. As Arthur, Huston is like a wolf-cunning, yet savage. The bear-like Winstone finds the right note as the rare type of man who might take on such a daunting challenge as trying to civilize the Outback. Emily Watson is also well cast as the Captain’s wife-she is a frail English rose who tends to her small, seemingly fragile Victorian garden around her home, which seems about to be swallowed at any time by the desolate wilderness surrounding it. Like many a great Western, The Proposition is a very rough, uncompromising story, yet has many moments of great power and beauty. The fearsome beauty of the Outback has also been explored in such notable films as Walkabout and Picnic at Hanging Rock. The Proposition, however, is the first one I know to mesh the mystery of the Outback with often harsh Western genre. I hope Hillcoat’s achievement opens the door for films in a similar vein.
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