The Proposition (2005)

Directed by John Hillcoat. Starring Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Emily Watson, Danny Huston, David Wenham, Tom Budge, Richard Wilson, John Hurt, Tom E. Lewis, Leah Purcell, David Gulpilil, Robert Morgan, Rodney Boschman. [R]

Family loyalty, colonialist oppression, and Biblical reckoning collide in this searing Aussie Western that’s as strikingly beautiful as it is stunningly violent. In a moody story set in the late-1800s, Winstone’s captain submits the titular proposition to captured outlaw Pearce: venture into the outback and kill older brother Huston, the bushranger gang leader who’s wanted for rape and murder, and he and his younger brother (Wilson) will go free. The characters are rooted in archetypes and the conflicted courses of their arcs are unsurprising, but the film is unflinching and sure-footed where most of its peers are romanticized and equivocal. Benoît Delhomme’s desolate, sun-blasted photography makes the landscapes as pitiless as the cruelty of human nature. The brooding and humorless portrayals from the lead performers are amplified by more eccentric characterizations in support (civilized sadist Wenham, mad bounty hunter Hurt, etc.), and a few small roles are filled out by recognizable Aboriginal actors. Written by musician Nick Cave; he also composed and performed the film’s score with Warren Ellis. Noah Taylor makes a brief appearance.

84/100