The Proposition

Walking out of ‘The Proposition’ it was hard not to picture my suburb as it would have been two hundred years ago. The landscape has not changed. The ridge upon which I live will always be a ridge, and the coves and inlets that form the harbour side around my area will always be coves and inlets and I can imagine that even the gum trees that line my street could have been around in days of yore. All this was running through my head as I walked home from the cinema this evening.

The movie itself was fantastic. A victorious combination of good guys with no morals, bad guys with good morals, a lawless bunch of individuals that cared not for morals, small town mob mentality, class division, family, betrayal, revenge and cunning. With a script by Nick Cave, music by Warren Ellis and the ochre tonnes of the Australian outback as the support how could you go wrong. The absurdities of British culture shone through like no tomorrow. The clothes, the titles, the hierarchy, the candlelit Christmas turkey lunch in the middle of a sweltering Australian summer… they all added up. The depiction of the Irish as lower class ruffians was spot on, as was the illustration of indigenous involvement in the outback stations (read: submit or be labelled a rebel).

At the end of the day it was the script, the music and the scenery that made the movie for me. The concept of isolation and the small town mentality that results from being away from society came through in every aspect of the film (the most memorable example would be the nervous aggression the townspeople demonstrate as a collective contrasted with the weak indecision they displayed as individuals).

Given that Nick Cave is famous for propelling his villainously, twisted stories along on a bed of tension and cinematic imagery it not surprising that it is these same elements that make the backbone of this film. What is surprising is the ease with which his stories translate to the big screen, given they are often subtle by nature with underlying themes that often only reveal themselves after a good few listens.

To conclude: I liked the film a lot. It was a solid Australian period piece, the law was just evil enough, the lawless were just moral enough… and there was just enough innocence to bring the plot to the boil.

Here is what Dave and Marg had to say: 'At the movie's' review