THE PROPOSITION

Year: 2005
USA: First Look Pictures Releasing
UK: Tartan Films
Cast: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, John Hurt, David Wenham, Emily Watson, Richard Wilson, Noah Taylor, Jeremy Madrona, Jae Mamuyac, Mick Roughan, Shane Watt, Robert Morgan, David Gulpilil, Bryan Probets, Oliver Ackland, David Vallon, Daniel Parker, Carl Rush, Gary Waddell, Iain Gardiner, Bogdan Koca, Sue Dwyer, Lance Medlin, Rodney Boschman, Boris Brkic, Ned Rose, Leah Purcell, Tom Budge, Tom E Lewis, Ralph Cotterill, Max Age, Jerry Solomon
Director: John Hillcoat
Countries: UK / Australia
USA & UK: 104 mins
USA Rated: R for strong grisly violence, and for language
UK Certificate: 18 contains strong language and strong bloody violence
USA Release Date: 5 May 2006
UK Release Date: 10 March 2006
UK DVD Release Date: 17 July 2006
US Distributor
Synopsis

Three brothers. One must live. One must die. One must decide

Australian Outback, 1880s.

The film opens in the middle of a frenzied gunfight between the police and a gang of bushrangers. Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his brother Mikey (Richard Wilson) are captured by the British Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone), who makes them a proposition.

Together with their now estranged psychopathic brother Arthur (Danny Huston), the men are wanted for a brutal rape and murder. Stanley will hang 14 year-old Mikey on Christmas Day, unless Charlie hunts down and kills his brother Arthur, whom Stanley believes to be their ringleader, and truly evil. If Charlie succeeds, Stanley will pardon both Charlie and Mikey.

Meanwhile, Captain Stanley has other problems to contend with. Having given up their comfortable life in England, he is desperate to shield his innocent wife Martha (Emily Watson) from the brutalities of their new surroundings. He also faces mounting pressure from renegade Aborigines and his superior Eden Fletcher (David Wenham) to bring order to the region.

Charlie sets off across a hostile landscape to find Arthur, who is holed up in the mountains with the remainder of his gang. Meanwhile Eden Fletcher, the powerful local landowner, has heard of the deal and is furious. He incites a mob to publicly flog Mikey, overpowering Stanley who tries to protect him and the proposition he has put into motion.

Charlie is attacked by a group of renegade Aborigines, he is saved by Arthur and taken to their hideout, where he slowly recovers. Arthur seems to guess at his brother's motives but it is not until he finds a posse of policemen that he learns that Charlie has come to kill him. Back in the camp Arthur and Charlie confront each other. They later join forces to spring Mikey from the jail.

Charlie rides off with Mikey, who dies in his arms. Arthur and his henchman Stoat (Tom Budge) take a bloody revenge on the police guards, while the humiliated Stanley spends Christmas with his wife, certain that the gang will be paying them a visit.

As the inevitable cycle of violence reaches its bloody conclusion, Charlie finds he must choose between revenge for Mikey, loyalty to the brother who saved his life, and his own conscience.

Filmed entirely on location in Winton, a remote northwestern outback town in Queensland, Australia, the original screenplay was written by music icon Nick Cave. It is directed by John Hillcoat (GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD; TO HAVE AND TO HOLD) and produced by Chiara Menage (LOVE IS THE DEVIL) and Cat Villiers (SAVING GRACE, NO MAN'S LAND), with Chris Brown (BLURRED; UNDER THE RADAR) and Jackie O'Sullivan (WITCH HUNT).

DVD EXTRAS

Video Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic 2.35:1
DTS Digital Surround 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, English subtitles for the hearing impaired
Tartan exclusive interview with Guy Pearce
Tartan exclusive interview with Danny Huston
Interviews with cast and crew
Making of Featurettes
Original Theatrical Trailer
Tartan Trailer Reel
Film Notes