It’s a Downunder. Whazzat? A western that’s located in Australia. It has Aborigines instead of indians, spears instead of arrows, insecurity instead of heroes. The Proposition is an grand movie, with a storyline that made choosing a side not an easy task. The action is pretty violent. I feel quite relieved that I live in a relatively peaceful time and place. Nonetheless, the action, the violence and cruelty is an integral part of the story, therefore I do not feel uncomfortable about it – it does not seem to be an end in itself, making it bearable to me. The actors are all excellent. The music, written along with the script by Nick Cave, is great, varying between lovely and sinister. The one thing that did not convince me was the strong insistence on the role of beauty and poetry. For my taste there were a few sunsets and recitations too many. Nonetheless, you should definitely watch this movie as soon as it will be released. The director, John Hillcoat, seemed to be a nice guy – after the showing of this movie at the Berlinale we passed him in the crowd that left the theater, congratulating him on this film. I missed the opportunity to congratulate him (and the absent Nick Cave) on one specific thing though: that the one powerful and wealthy person who was without kindness and sans beauty was the one that survived practically unscathed.
IMDb entry | Trailer