Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Jul 12, 2006 20:33:40 GMT -5
Has anyone seen the recent Australian film The Proposition? I highly recommend it--but not because it's a feel good film. It's one of those movies that's much more about character motivation than plot, but the plot's a killer.
***SPOILERS****
Set in Colonial Australia, the Burns brothers are notorious criminals, raping and pillaging their way through the assorted settlements they come across. A recent and exceptionally horrific example (called "The Hopkins Outrage") has inflamed the public beyond the usual grumblings, and Ray Winstone (a fabulous actor), the local police captain, has managed to capture the younger two brothers, halfwit teen Mikey and middle brother Charley, after a bloody shoot out.
The problem is, Captian Ray wants the eldest brother, Edward. Edward is a plague and abomination, and the brains and driving force behind the gang. He's out in the hills somewhere, and nobody will go near his campsite, not even the local aborigenes, who call him "Dog Fella." He's too dangerous for any outsider to approach. What to do?
Well, as the title suggests, Captian Ray makes a propostion to Charley. He's keeping Mikey locked up, and giving Charley a horse. Charley has until Christmas Day to bring Edward in, dead or alive, or Mikey's gonna be hanging from a rope. Charley accepts the offer, having no choice, and the film plays out from there, covering the nature of revenge, oredjudice, and motivations behind people's actions.
The performances are superb. Ray Winstone always excells at playing characters that know that everything could go straight to hell any minute, and juggling frantically to prevent it. Emily Watson plays his loving and seemingly Victorian wife, who surprisingly pulls out the stops in demanding justice, no matter how imperfect, for her raped and murdered freind Eliza Hopkins. Guy Peirce is Charley, trying to make a good decision after a lifetime of being bad. And Edward is a big surprise. After hearing various descriptions of his behavior, you expect a wild man, crouched naked in a cave and pulling the heads off babies, but he's an eloquent, well spoken man who has come to a kind of dreadful ease with his vicious, sociopathic nature.
Has anyone else seen this film? I'd love to hear opinions on it.
***SPOILERS****
Set in Colonial Australia, the Burns brothers are notorious criminals, raping and pillaging their way through the assorted settlements they come across. A recent and exceptionally horrific example (called "The Hopkins Outrage") has inflamed the public beyond the usual grumblings, and Ray Winstone (a fabulous actor), the local police captain, has managed to capture the younger two brothers, halfwit teen Mikey and middle brother Charley, after a bloody shoot out.
The problem is, Captian Ray wants the eldest brother, Edward. Edward is a plague and abomination, and the brains and driving force behind the gang. He's out in the hills somewhere, and nobody will go near his campsite, not even the local aborigenes, who call him "Dog Fella." He's too dangerous for any outsider to approach. What to do?
Well, as the title suggests, Captian Ray makes a propostion to Charley. He's keeping Mikey locked up, and giving Charley a horse. Charley has until Christmas Day to bring Edward in, dead or alive, or Mikey's gonna be hanging from a rope. Charley accepts the offer, having no choice, and the film plays out from there, covering the nature of revenge, oredjudice, and motivations behind people's actions.
The performances are superb. Ray Winstone always excells at playing characters that know that everything could go straight to hell any minute, and juggling frantically to prevent it. Emily Watson plays his loving and seemingly Victorian wife, who surprisingly pulls out the stops in demanding justice, no matter how imperfect, for her raped and murdered freind Eliza Hopkins. Guy Peirce is Charley, trying to make a good decision after a lifetime of being bad. And Edward is a big surprise. After hearing various descriptions of his behavior, you expect a wild man, crouched naked in a cave and pulling the heads off babies, but he's an eloquent, well spoken man who has come to a kind of dreadful ease with his vicious, sociopathic nature.
Has anyone else seen this film? I'd love to hear opinions on it.
