Review: THE PROPOSITION (2005)
December 8th 2008 22:25
The Proposition - 9/10
John Hillcoat's stunning film about a brothers love and despise for his older sibling comes out of left field and knocks me off of my feet.
Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) is by no means a good person. He has done and seen many horrible things with his brothers and finally, after a horrific display of hatred and inhumanity committed by his oldest brother, Arthur (Danny Huston), Charlie takes his little brother Mikey (Richard Wilson) and leaves Arthur's gang to escape from a brutal world he seems he no longer wants to be a part of. However, some time later, Captain Stanley (played wonderfully by Ray Winstone) catches up to Charlie and Mikey, forcing Charlie to take a proposition. Either hunt down and kill his older brother for the rape/murder of a woman and her family, or find his younger brother dead on Christmas. Stanley takes Mikey into custody and leaves Charlie to find his brother in the Australian Outback and provide justice for a town who cannot get over the death of an innocent family. Now Charlie finds himself in a situation he neither wants a part of, nor can ignore, to save his younger brother from a death he does not deserve.
The Proposition had me hooked from the opening credits! The original music by Nick Cave (who also wrote the screenplay) and Warren Ellis placed over photos from the time the movie takes place set the tone of the film. To me, the movie had absolutely no down time, starting right off at the moment when Stanley captures both Charlie and Mikey and sets Charlie off on his quest. Pearce only has a few lines in the opening scenes, and yet, just from his facial expressions and body language, I could tell how much angst he held inside and how much he hated the idea of having to go and hunt down his older brother, even though he felt the man was a monster. Also, Ray Winstone gives a stellar performance right from the beginning, making me think that the man is a horrible person, only to find that he is a man of morals, trying to uphold the law and justice while not stepping over the line and into the same world where the men he hunts down live. Everything about this film works. The writing was fantastic and the film well paced. It comes in at just under 1 hour and 30 minutes and does not add in any unnecessary filler that one would think pointless. The story goes where it needs to go; the characters develop in the perfect fashion; and the skill put forth by Pearce, Winstone, and Emily Watson (Captain Stanley's wife) is unbelievable. And I have to add that Danny Huston, who plays the monster that is Arthur, was amazing. Throughout the entire movie, we never get to see what crimes he has committed, especially the one that eventually sends his own brother after him, and we are only told what kind of person he is through other character's dialogue. So when we first meet him, we see a well-learned, albeit, straggly man who could have just as well been framed for the crime he supposedly carried out. That was one of my favorite parts of the movie; trying to figure out if this man truly is a monster. The last twenty minutes of the movie were pure gold: compelling; heartbreaking; thrilling; all at the same time.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has not seen it. I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to see it and I highly doubt that anyone would not like it.
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