The Proposition (2005)

I've put off watching The Proposition for a while because it's meant to be hard to watch.
But it has this great cast including Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston and Emily Watson and I'm interested by the notion of a 'hard-core Australian western' from a script written moustachio'd Aussie musical maestro and wordsmith, Nick Cave...


I just wish i hadn't waited so long; The Proposition is just a brilliant meditation on violence, justice and retribution.
It's almost Zen. 
A British policeman (Ray Winstone) arrests outlaws Mike and Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce), sets Charlie free on the condition he finds and kills their other brother, Arthur (Danny Huston), held responsible for killing and raping a pregnant woman as well as killing the rest of her family. And he has 9days or Mike will be hanged.
I can't think of a single problem with this film except it's not really something you'd stick on to relax. It's utterly stimulating to watch on every level.
Everyone is acting their ass off. Ray Winstone is brilliant as the archetypal western 'sheriff', uncomfortable in this extreme environment coming from England- but determined in the impossible task of upholding the peace and protecting his wife. 
And Emily Watson is brilliant in that part and her role might be one of the hardest to get a handle on for an actor. In The Proposition- she has to be the 'sheriffs' wife, on the side of justice but it's also her best friend who was murdered, someone who has her ideas on 'proportionate' punishment change after seeing the result of the punishment metered out. It's not an obvious coupling but you can tell Winstone and Watson have genuine affection for each other in their scenes.
Danny Huston is amazing as the malevolent head of the  malevolent head of the outlaw gang. You just feel like, in spite his extreme actions- he's just dead inside, just a man dulled by violence, a man too far gone to even be interested in redemption.
And this film is just beautifully to look at. I hate sunny warm weather, so I've never even conceived of Australia as somewhere i'd aspire to visit but they've even managed to make the Aussie Outback look like Montana, that is to say i didn't realise that was possible.
Nick Cave has written this amazing allegory on vengeance- it's like the embodiment of the saying, 'an eye for an eye and we all go blind'- if we all go around claiming retribution where does it end? and it's Nick Cave, so it goes without saying that the soundtrack he's produced with Warren Ellis, is simply masterful. I look forward to more Nick Cave written endeavours in the future.
I think this is the best western i've ever seen, not that i've seen that many but The Proposition really distils what I'd imagine a western should be- an exciting story about the consequences of revenge and retribution, where the country is as much of unpredictable character, as any in the piece.

I watched The Proposition (2005) on LoveFilm Online - http://bit.ly/fCekMt

My 2011 in Movies will return with The Next Three Days (2010)...