SCREEN SCENE: "The Proposition"

For decades, foreign filmmakers like Sergio Leone have adopted
the uniquely American genre of the western and transformed it into
a concept that reaches beyond a game of cowboys and Indians. John
Hillcoat’s “The Proposition” is the latest film
to add new wrinkles to the western.

“The Proposition” is a tale of violent brutality in
the Australian Outback of the 1880s. The town’s head lawman,
Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) has captured Charlie Burns (Guy
Pearce) and his 14-year-old brother Mikey (Richard Wilson), who are
wanted on charges of rape and murder. However, after their capture,
Stanley offers Charlie a deal: only Mikey will be hanged on
Christmas day. Charlie’s only chance to save him is to find
and kill their maniacal older brother Arthur (Danny Huston). Thus,
Charlie sets off into the Outback to find one brother in order to
give another a new lease on life.

The film is gorgeous from a technical standpoint. The denizens
and locales of “The Proposition” are grimmer and
grittier than a Frank Miller comic ““ characters are covered
in mounds of dirt and blood while flies buzz around them.
Cinematographer Benoit Delhomme and the production designers
vividly capture the unforgiving landscape of an Australia that few
have ever imagined or seen.

Unfortunately, the film succeeds mostly on the strength of its
visuals, as nearly every other aspect pales in comparison. While
the acting is solid and understated (with the exception of John
Hurt’s scenery-chewing mercenary), many characters seem
one-dimensional. As Martha Stanley, Emily Watson has little to work
with ““ she mostly sulks around her home. The film’s
most well-developed character, strangely, is Stanley himself.
Considering that the story is supposed to follow Charlie’s
quest, the film spends more time focusing on Stanley’s
marital troubles, not to mention his problems with his superiors
and Aboriginal uprisings. This would be fine if Stanley’s
problems are interesting, but they are mostly not.

“The Proposition” is at its core a revenge story
that relies heavily on moral ambiguity. After “V For
Vendetta,” however, this is the year’s second film to
misfire with a multifaceted protagonist. Charlie Burns, remember,
is a wanted rapist and murderer, but is only shown in the film
acting righteously. There is little beyond mentions from others to
suggest an unjustifiably brutal nature.

Similarly, Charlie’s brother Arthur doesn’t come off
as truly heinous. Though he does commit violent acts, few of these
actions affect innocent characters. We don’t see Arthur hurt
anyone who didn’t have it coming. Conversely, Arthur’s
acts of violence are at times so excessive that they lose any
emotional resonance and simply stand by themselves to illicit a
gasp.

The film could have been better if it stayed on the simple path
that it laid out for itself initially ““ Charlie’s hunt
for Arthur. Instead, the narrative gets weighed down in subplots.
Some editing choices are rather suspect, as the film sometimes goes
extended periods without following Charlie at all, and instead
focuses on the less interesting internal politics of the police
force. When Charlie finally reappears, the change is abrupt and
disorienting.

Overall, “The Proposition” is far from bad. With its
strong cast and interesting premise, the film could have been a
classic modern revival of the tried and true western. Instead, its
one-dimensional characters and disjointed narrative structure hold
it back.

““ Mark Humphrey

E-mail Humphrey at [email protected]