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Cast: Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, David Wenham, John Hurt, Emily Watson
Written by: Nick Cave
Directed by: John Hillcoat

‘When’, said the moon to the stars in the sky; ‘Soon’, said the wind that followed him home

‘Who’, said the cloud that started to cry; ‘Me’, said the rider as dry as a bone

‘How’, said that the sun that melted the ground; ‘Why’, said the river that refused to run

‘Where’, said the thunder without a sound; ‘Here’, said the rider and took up his gun

Based on a script by songwriter-musician Nick Cave, ‘The proposition’ is not a movie. It is a piece of anguished lyricism…poetry drenched in crimson blood.

Let me make one thing clear at the outset. I have never been a fan of the ‘western’ genre. But ‘The Proposition’ reinvigorates the genre and it gave me a glimpse of what a western is all about.

It epitomizes what the western stands for. Take ordinary men, strip away all the trappings of so-called human civilization, push the characters to a primitive, primordial state of survival, against the backdrop of cruel, unforgiving nature. Then stand back and observe human nature in its extraordinary entirety. Perceive its bestiality and compassion, its depravity and pathos.

The sun does not shine benevolently on these rugged Australian outdoors. It beats down in all its savage glory to kill. And the beings inhabiting this world also live by the sword and the gun.

The movie begins with a shootout between fugitives hiding in a shack and the local sheriff (Ray Winstone…for another of his great performances watch ‘Sexy Beast’) and his troops. The sheriff manages to capture two of the brothers of the dreaded Burns gang. He puts forth a proposition to Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce). He must find and kill his elder brother, Arthur Burns (Danny Huston), who is described as an ‘abomination’ and a ‘monster’. The youngest brother, Mike (Richard Wilson) would be kept as collateral, to be killed in case of any breach of the contract. The reward….pardon for Charlie and Mike.

But when news of this deal gets out, it doesn’t go down well with the townspeople. They want immediate rightful vengeance on Mike…for the heinous rape and murder of pregnant Eliza Hopkins. And the town mayor Eden Fletcher (David Wenham) also feels that is the least, the angry townsfolk deserve.

Emily Watson plays the sheriff’s sensitive wife, speaking more through her expressive eyes than words (as usual). Coming from genteel English society, she is an absolute misfit in these harsh surroundings. Eliza Hopkins was a close friend of hers and her desire to see Eliza avenged comes into conflict with her duty to stand by her husband in this time of crisis. She starts having nightmares about the unborn child, driving her into a deeply distressed state…in spite of Ray Winstone’s best efforts to shield and protect her.

Charlie Burns goes out into the wild, with a horse and a gun…he finds his brother in his ‘god-forsaken’ lair…the inexorably creeping dance of death and mayhem which follows is best seen rather than described.

This movie is an instance of pure filmmaking and a masterful use of visual and aural means to create a foreboding sense of doom. John Hillcoat and Nick Cave present before us an authentic portrayal of the 18^th century Australian outback and along with it, human nature stripped to the bare.