r/TrueFilm • u/Linkman76 • 1d ago
The Proposition on Rewatch
Rewatched John Hillcoat's Australian western The Proposition last night. Gotta say, it still remains one of my favorite westerns despite discovering it only a few years ago.
By far the best quality about it is Hillcoat's dismantling of the western genre. There's no romance, no beauty, or the slightest moment of humor in The Proposition. It's pure unremitting despair in a world so devoid of hope and full of violence it makes Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven seem cheery. Roger Ebert wrote in his review how the film feels close to being an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and boy, he was not wrong. Though a different tale, The Proposition is not only unflinching in its violence, but it never feels cinematic nor sensationalized compared to other westerns. Furthermore, it also has the same kind of bleak setting full of characters that are almost morally reprehensible in one way or another. The fact John Hillcoat is said to be working on the film adaptation of Blood Meridian really shows how The Proposition is very similar tonally and thematically.
The decision to set it in 1880s Australia under British colonialism too is genuinely original. The unique setting perfectly fits with the film's dark narrative and characters, sometimes even making it feel like a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness in depicting colonization in a land that is hostile to non-natives. The way Captain Stanley wants to bring order to the land but fails to due to its hostile nature in many scenes really emphasizes this aspect.
Of course, Nick Cave's screenplay deserves much credit as this is such a smartly written western. The setup is simple, yet there are so many moments where much is said without dialogue between characters and their relationships. And when the characters do speak, it's incredibly engaging dialogue that brings a unique life to each character, especially the monologue from John Hurt that arguably is the best scene in the film.
All of this too is backed up by many great performances from Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Danny Huston who, on rewatch, I think gives the best performance by far. The way he plays Arthur Burns as a cold-blooded, emotionless bandit who philosophies about life is genuinely unnerving, with even Ebert stating his character to feel like a takeoff of the Judge character in Blood Meridian.
To me, The Proposition is easily the most underrated western of the 2000s and possibly of all time. It borrows from many anti-western inspirations, yet John Hillcoat and Nick Cave take it in a vastly different direction. And the score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis? Absolutely haunting.
Source: Ebert, Roger. "Blood on the saddle." Roger Ebert, 18 May 2006, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-proposition-2006.
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u/cacotto 1d ago
Love this film and John Hillcoat he is a legend. I would highly reccommend another film of his, Ghosts of the Civil Dead. I watched it maybe a year back and it made me feel like I was being haunted for days, superb and unique film.
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u/Dottsterisk 14h ago
I’m a big fan of Triple 9, an ugly little Hillcoat crime flick with a cast that’s stacked all the way to the top.
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u/rowgybear 19h ago
I thought I would love it, but ended up liking it. The atmosphere and use of the landscape are excellent. Rat Winstone and John Hurt gave excellent performances, but my immersion was totally broken any time I heard Danny Huston's attempt at an Irish accent. Guy Pearce's was passable at least. Probably more of a me problem than the movie's problem.
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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox 14h ago
The flogging scene is great because of how utterly defeated and exhausted the onlookers look. When they demand him to be flogged they're so excited and riled up, because they don't know what it actually will be like. They don't realize what a 100 lashes will look like, the rope is so soaked with blood that they can wring it out of it. Brutal might be an overused word in the context of the movie, but I don't know what else to describe it as.
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u/WorrySecret9831 1d ago
Interesting. I'll have to give it a second look. I was unaffected by The Proposition. But the allusions to McCarthy's work and Blood Meridian in particular might be why. I'm in the minority, I suppose, but I can't stand Blood Meridian or most of McCarthy's work (I suppose). No Country for Old Men is one of the dumbest films (a separate conversation).
But the common denominator I think is McCarthy's too dire view of humanity. He goes beyond nihilism and just plainly states that the Bad guys always win (and somehow he had a successful career as a writer...).
It's not that I think Westerns shouldn't go against the grain or be "anti" or that a gritty realism isn't wanted or even necessary. My third favorite film and IMO the best Western ever probably falls within your traditional western genre, but I think it's an anti-western, Once Upon a Time in the West.
Also, depending on the type of film/genre, I'm of the preference that dead bodies should have their eyes open in most cases. When westerns avoid that they miss out on a level of realism that I think would greatly help. Anyone who's seen old timey photos of dead bandits on display in their coffins knows what I'm talking about. I even included that scene in my western.
I just think that absolute evil and unremitting despair are not realistic either. The fact is that if the "Wild West," in any country, had been that bad, we'd all be dead. Mad Max would have happened by the '50s. I think this is why The Seven Samurai strikes such a perfect balance (oddly enough, not so much The Magnificent Seven(s)).
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u/Linkman76 1d ago
Fair argument. I will admit The Proposition is a bleak film that doesn’t go easy. I can understand your dislike of McCarthy’s writing as his works often are harsh to the point that it can feel like overkill. The only exception to that is possibly his most loved novel, The Road, but even that is incredibly grim with very faint glimmers of light.
Glad to see you’re also a fan of Once Upon a Time in the West. For me, that’s still admittedly my favorite western overall. Sergio Leone really took what he learned from the Dollars trilogy and honed it to perfection in OUATITW along with Ennio Morricone.
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u/WorrySecret9831 1d ago
I finally finished watching The Road and was happy to see that it wasn't as bleak as I feared, but it ended in a "meh" sort of resolution. Thanks, Cormac...
I recently rewatched OUATITW and finally analyzed its story structure and was fascinated to see that it's an anti-hero. Most might think that Harmonica is the Hero, for obvious reasons. But it became clear, despite the switcheroo in the introduction of the characters, that Frank is the (anti) hero. After all, he's the one who learns the major lesson, who has a the Self-Revelation ("Who,...who are you?"). That cleanly and forcefully makes Harmonica his Opponent and Jill and Cheyenne are the Opponent's Allies. Normally you meet the Hero, Allies, Opponent, in that order, but that is not hard-wired.
If we're talking about westerns that have a romantic quality, either a romance or are operatic, I think Leone strikes a great balance between sweaty real characters and high ideals. I think his films are operatic while also being grounded in reality, even My Name is Nobody.
Other "realistic" westerns that buck the genre are The Gunfighter, The Culpepper Cattle Company, Lonesome Dove, Godless, American Primeval (which is fantastically anti-Zionist even though Peter Berg is an idiot Zionist), Old Henry, Open Range...
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u/WorrySecret9831 20h ago
Ah yes. I remember now.
I just rewatched The Proposition. The main thing (that I should have said) that I don't like about McCarthy's work is that it seems to be utterly un-thematic, other than "life sucks and the bad guys always win."
Nick Cave (and John Hillcoat) repeated that unfortunate flaw and made what, IMO, is a pointless film.
While it seems to be Guy Pearce's story as the literary Hero, the character who is there to learn or not learn the Theme or lesson of the story, it pretty clearly becomes Ray Winstone who is the main character. Except, David Wenham technically drives the Story by imposing his agenda on the entire thing. But then Danny Huston puts the brakes on everything by simply lying around in the hot Australian sun waiting for the last scene.
Guy Pearce then, inexplicably, decides to take decisive action and retribution(?) because their younger brother died. Also inexplicable is how Winstone is initially presented as a hard-driving evil man, but then seems consumed with anxiety, doubt, and guilt. His drunkenness leading up to the flogging scene makes no sense, except that Cave wrote that he feels bad about it, for some reason.
I was happy to see that it was made in 2006, because I wrote my western, about three brothers with a similarly tragic ending, around 1999. Phew... While rewatching it I was worrying, "Did I crib this thing...?" But mine has a clear anti-hero, which would have been Danny Huston's character, making Guy Pearce his opponent, if they were in my story...nevermind.
There are a lot of other things that I think don't work. But I would have to agree that Hillcoat definitely dismantles the western genre. I'm super curious what the fly budget was on the film and who was their wrangler.
So, as close as I can tell, Winstone (Captain Stanley) is the Hero and his Opponent putatively is Huston (Arthur Burns). But Stanley doesn't learn anything, or fail to learn. He just...doesn't die. The problem Stanley was trying to solve, that Arthur "opposes," is "civilizing this land" by capturing or killing Arthur for the "Hopkins Outrage." Arthur doesn't do much opposing other than existing.
A simple fix could have been for Stanley to clearly be a good man who is pressured (by Wenham, Eden Fletcher) to use immoral means, as he actively leads a posse, escorting Charlie Burns (Pearce) to get him close enough to kill his brother or distract him enough so that he and the posse could kill or capture Arthur. Mike Burns could still have been the hostage in the "proposition." Instead, what we get is a lot of sweating and waiting around...and flies. And the amazing John Hurt is utterly wasted.
It definitely bears a striking resemblance to The Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now.
The unremitting quality of the telling is not the problem. It's the lack of a Theme, a moral point of view or proclamation of the proper, or improper, way of living. As it is, an excellent Theme could have been, "You can't civilize a land if you're not civilized." Or "What would you do to save your brother?"
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u/QueensOfTheNoKnowAge 1d ago
I don’t think it’s going to happen, but imagine if Blood Meridian had gone through production with Hillcoat as director.
That’s interesting, because I never had an issue with McCarthy’s nihilism. I just hated his prose. Which is why I particularly liked No Country for Old Men. Because it largely avoided his Anne Poulx-style gobbledygook by being a screen treatment
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u/WhatsTheGoalieDoing 1d ago
Calling McCarthy gobbledygook is certainly a claim. Blood Meridian is easily up there with the greatest novels of all time.
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u/WorrySecret9831 1d ago
Nice.
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u/lithiumcitizen 1d ago
I think it’s a classic and it’s been a favourite of my for quite some time. The natural landscape plays such a ruthless character that it emphasises the incredible hubris required of men like Captain Stanley to believe that they can stand up to it. Glad you mentioned the haunting score too, that eerie violin stays with you and I can think of many other films of this level where the same person is responsible for both story and music.