Outback outlaws
The Proposition
Guy Pearce, Emily Watson and Ray Winstone.

Rating: 4/5

THE Australian outback is a shimmering, white-hot backdrop to this realistically violent representation of crime and justice in our remote settlements in the 1880s.

Outlaw Charlie Burns (Pearce) and his brother Mikey are brought in by Police Captain Stanley (Winstone), an honest and intelligent lawman, trying to tame the brutal frontier towns of the Australian outback.

Between the criminals and the equally unruly constables, Stanley is weary and disillusioned. He lets Charlie Burns go free, telling him to find and kill his truly psychotic older brother Arthur, or his younger brother Mikey, who has been driven half-mad by gunfights with police, will be hanged on Christmas Day.

So begins this story about loyalty and justice in the isolated Australian outback of the 1880s.

The Proposition, which, interestingly, was written by Australian music legend Nick Cave, is not a romantic bushranger story like Ned Kelly and it’s not so much entertaining as thought provoking and shocking. There are moments of horrific violence in this film and yet there is very little action.

Although I’m no expert on the subject, The Proposition appears to be a very realistic representation of the period and remote Australian life.

I recommend this film – it’s a provocative addition to the cast of strong Australian films released so far this year – but be prepared for the violence, the realism and the ethical questions it raises.

– Private John Wellfare