Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9471 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-17
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Based on a screenplay from Nick Cave, The Proposition is a slow, thoughtful, brutal and diligent western, that rightly mopped up numerous awards back in its native Australia.

It starts when Ray Winstone’s Captain Stanley makes an unpopular deal with a much-wanted outlaw, Charlie Burns, played by Guy Pierce. Charlie has two brothers: an innocent younger sibling (Mikey), and a heavily wanted older one (Arthur). The Captain takes the younger one into custody on threat of hanging, giving Charlie a matter of days to bring his older brother in.

That’s the core proposition that gives the film its title, yet what really makes the film is its willingness to explore the details. How do the townsfolk feel when they find out Captain Stanley has let a wanted gangster go? What will Stanley’s wife do when she finds out he’s willingness to play a dangerous game with an innocent young man as the stakes? And what will Charlie actually do when confronted by his deadly brother?

The beauty of Cave’s script too is that it doesn’t speed through any of this, consequently building up notable moments of tension, brutality and genuine shock. The performances throughout are strong, with Pierce and Winstone spearheading the cast with skill, yet finding tremendous support in the shape of John Hurt, Emily Watson and Danny Huston. Married up to the subtle and thoughtful direction of John Hillcoat, The Proposition is, quite simply, one of the finest films of the year, and the latest resurrection for a genre that rightly refuses to remain dormant.--Simon Brew

Synopsis
Australian director John Hillcoat first teamed up with singer Nick Cave on 1988's disturbing GHOSTS...OF THE CIVIL DEAD, for which Cave co-authored the screenplay and took a memorably brief acting role. The two reconvene for 2006's THE PROPOSITION, with Cave penning the screenplay and providing a soundtrack written with Dirty Three member Warren Ellis. Cave's 19th-century tale begins with the proposition of the title, as Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) captures fugitive brothers Charley (Guy Pearce) and Mikey Burns (Richard Wilson) at a scene of bloody rape and murder. Informing Charley that he must kill his older brother, Arthur (Danny Huston), in order to be set free, Stanley drags Mikey to a decrepit jailhouse while he waits for Charley to carry out the deed. Hillcoat's Western reeks of the dry desert heat, with flies buzzing, temperatures soaring, and emotions spiralling out of control. As Charley reluctantly sets about his task, Hillcoat and cinematographer Benoit Delhomme create a mesmerising vision of the Australian outback. The slow, meandering pace of the film is peppered with brutal jolts of unremitting violence, and there are fine performances from the entire cast, who are supported in small but significant roles from Emily Watson (BREAKING THE WAVES) and John Hurt (THE ELEPHANT MAN). Cave's screenplay is tight and focused, leaving little room for sentiment or anyone for the audience to root for by giving all his principal characters plenty of grimly undesirable personality traits. But it works perfectly, and in Winstone and Pearce, Hillcoat got his casting exactly right. Both actors give dizzying performances as two men unable to escape their personal demons, finding a tragic outlet only in ceaseless acts of aggression. A memorable feature that lingers long after the last frame of celluloid has flickered onto the screen, THE PROPOSITION establishes Hillcoat as a director of major gravitas.

Customer Reviews

The Western, transplanted to Australia, with startling results
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 .

A triumph for all involved
I was blown away by this film when I saw it the first time at the cinema and was equally impressed when I bought this 2 disc package and watched it again in the privacy of my own home. With an unforgettable opening scene involving a terrifying shoot-out, it throws the viewer immediately into a maelstrom of savagery and lawlessness. This is the Australian Outback in the 19th Century - not a place for the faint-hearted or weak of spirit. Trying to make sense of it all is Captain Stanley, a respectable Englishman and robust officer of the law, and a well-mannered, doting husband to his dear wife, Martha (Emily Watson).

Upon capturing Charlie Burns, one of the most dangerous outlaws in the region, and his younger brother, Mikey, Stanley takes the gamble of a lifetime when he offers Charlie a pardon and the release of his brother for the head of Charlie's older brother, Arthur. What makes this film so gripping is the way in which the tension hangs so heavily in the stifling heat, a tension that is punctuated effectively by various acts of shocking brutality, desperation and betrayal in keeping with the film's unforgiving setting. Guy Pearce's portrayal of the staunch Charlie Burns is a triumph despite the fact that for much of the film, he is a solitary, silent figure. As a previous reviewer has suggested, it could be argued that both writer and director are rather too much in thrall to Ray Winstone's character (Stanley) as he appears on-screen far more than Pearce's. However, it would be churlish to criticize this aspect of the film too heavily - if at all - as Winstone's performance is one of utter magnificence.

Tense, violent and occasionally nauseous (notably, the scene in which young Mikey gets flogged), this is nevertheless one of the best films I've seen in recent years, and everyone involved in its making should be congratulated.

Matt Pucci

Destined to be a cult classic
Not many films take nearly ten times their box office takings in rentals in just one year. This fact is either testament to the poor initial marketing of this feature or that it is already developing into a cult classic.

The cast is absolutely superb; an ensemble of Ray Winston, John Hurt, Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, Emily Watson and David Wenham all gelling superbly to produce one of the finest movies made in Australia and which has been a major cause of the spate of Westerns we've seen produced over the last 18 months. It seems as though half of Hollywood wants to try and outdo what was done in this movie.

The movie is centred around a manhunt for a criminal that has committed an unspeakable atrocity. The officials kidnap the man's younger brother in an effect to pit the two remaining brothers against each other. The methods used by the officials to entice the remaining brothers out of hiding become more brutal with unforseen consequences.

This movie is harsh, violent, tender and thought-provoking without overdoing anything. The idea of the police captain trying satisfy himself and his wife with an oasis of well-watered flowers and sumptuous dinner in the middle of the outback draws parallels with the idea of cultivating peace and harmony in one of the most violent periods of Australian history.

If you want a Western that doesn't fit the mould and has inspired Hollywood to re-invent the genre this is the one.