Certificate:

Director: John Hillcoat

Release Date: 10 March 2006

Tagline: This land will be civilized.

Main Cast:

Guy Pearce … Charles Burns

Ray Winstone … Captain Stanley

Richard Wilson … Mike Burns

I’m finding it hard to be articulate about The Proposition. It’s such a powerful and intense film on so many levels that it’s a tough one to do justice to. It’s brutal, gritty, bloody and beautifully acted.

What initially attracted me to this film was Guy Pearce. He’s one of my favourite actors and is on top form here. I’m not a fan of Ray Winstone, and I think that Captain Stanley could have been better played by a different actor. Having said that, he does a decent enough job and doesn’t really detract from the film.

The costumes, hair and make up are worth mentioning. The clothes look like the most grungy, sweaty and stinking clothes I’ve ever seen in a film and Pearce looks so revolting that it made my skin itch just to look at him! The filth of the fly ridden sweatbox of the Australian outback is heightened even further by the finely dressed wife of Captain Stanley. She’s like an oasis of cleanliness in a desert of grime.

The Proposition is not for the faint-hearted. Its stark brutality is not easy to watch but it’s not violence for violence’s sake.

Civilize the land? The authorities are as brutal as the outlaws.

Rating: