THE PROPOSITION

THE PROPOSITION is a gritty Australian Western directed by John Hillcoat and starring Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, and Ray Winstone.

Before I get into the film let me just say that Ray Winstone is probably one of the most underrated actors working today. Some of my favourite films of all time feature fearless performances by the gutsy Winstone, including Tim Roth's THE WAR ZONE, Jonathan Glazer's SEXY BEAST, and now THE PROPOSITION. Winstone has mastered the humanist tough guy, the man who must be hard for his profession but fears to bring that rage and jagged lifestyle home.

Such is the part he plays in THE PROPOSITION as Captain Stanley, a British officer in charge of bringing peace and order to an upstart village deep in the Australian Outback. In particular the town has been terrorized by a clan of Irish immigrant brothers, the Brothers Burns. Captain Stanley has his own perceptions of how justice should be carried out, and in a blistering opening sequence he manages to capture two of the brothers, Mikey (played by Richard Wilson) and Charlie (sternly portrayed by Guy Pearce). The real target however is older brother Arthur (Danny Huston), and Captain Stanley makes a proposition to Charlie: find and kill his brother Arthur, and Mikey will be spared from hanging in the gallows.

It is a simplistic bare bones plot, but the masterful script by Nick Cave (yes he of the Bad Seeds and The Birthday Party fame) builds such a cloud of miasma around it that the story plumbs into the depths of human loyalty and survival. There is much more here at play that we are led to believe- the dynamics and relationships between man and man (the whites versus the Aboriginals), man versus nature (the unforgiving Outback) and ultimately, man versus himself. The script is flawless, one of the top works of screenwriting in recent times. No kidding.

The performances are pitch perfect, with the actors all hitting the appropriate note between plain melancholy and desperate humanism. Guy Pearce delivers one of his best performances in this film, despite not saying much. His real dialogue is internal, as he must negotiate the proposition with his mind, his heart, and his soul. Imagine- is there truly an appropriate way to kill one's brother? But perhaps the most amazing performance is a cameo by the legendary John Hurt, playing a washed up, racist bounty hunter. Hurt takes Nick Cave's words and transforms them into sonnets of beautiful filth, the ramblings of a homeless poet, of a man whose existence has done little but aspires to be one with the gods.

Nick Cave has also composed the music to the film, and it plays the omniscient narrator, the unforgiving god who pens the destiny of these troubled men. It is a remarkable composition, reminiscent of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST wherein Ennio Morricone designed a specific theme for each character, an operatic entrance that comes to define the ambitions, desires, and pathos of the individual. Song plays an integral part of the film, and it parlays quite possibly the only singular moments of true beauty in an otherwise bleak landscape. These men find solace and meaning in art, and they try to manipulate the truth of art to disastrous consequences.

Even more striking is the portrayal of the Aboriginals, as a fiercely independent race of people who will bow down only by force of the gun or by imprisonment, or by death. The film pulls no punches in showing the violent relationship between the natives and the occupiers, and we are given full indication that Australia has been engaged in a silent, bloody war that will never see full resolution or justice.

And that's ultimately what the film is about- justice. In our post 9/11 era we've twisted and confounded the notion of justice, reverted back to the Hammurabian code of law, and dispensed with the common dignity of men. The violence in the film is graphic and rightfully so- in order to show injustice, to show an abuse of power, then true suffering must be on display. Director Hillcoat and his cinematographer Benoit Delhomme never shy away from harsh realities- they show Australia in her splendor and her squalor, they show her as a complete organism.

This is a Western in the classic tradition, a tale of vengeance that would make John Ford, Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone proud, the finest Western since UNFORGIVEN. But the film manages to go one level deeper than Eastwood's masterpiece by adding a true shade of humanity- where Eastwood's vision of lawless men is bleak, Hillcoat and Cave see these men as ordinary men, despite the fact that their souls will be forever damned.

THE PROPOSITION is a difficult watch for its violence and grim straightforward approach, but it is entirely riveting. My attention never wavered once, and every frame of this film was meticulously composed and well thought out. This was hands down one of the best films of 2006, and if you are willing to take a journey to the darker depths of men, then you owe it to yourself to see this film.