The Proposition

This has been labelled an 'anti-western', but all that really matters is that it's a great film. In the harsh and beautiful open spaces of the Australian outback circa 1880, three outlaw brothers (Guy Pearce, Richard Wilson and Danny Huston) are pursued by troubled policeman Ray Winstone. It's a mythic, morose meditation on responsibility and regret, punctuated by moments of brutal and shocking violence. Nick Cave's economical screenplay continually subverts stock characterisation, so our judgements of 'good' and 'bad' are constantly knocked off balance. At the centre of this confusion is Pearce as Charlie, perhaps his best performance to date. Speaking only a few lines in the film, his weathered and beaten face conveys a gaping internal world of sadness and loss, while his eyes burn like the broken soul within. [Paul Gallagher]