The Proposition

The Proposition is a 2005 Australian Western film directed by John Hillcoat and written by screenwriter and musician Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, Danny Huston and David Wenham. The film's production completed in 2004 and was followed by a wide 2005 release in Australia and a 2006 cinematic run in the U.S. through First Look Pictures. The film was shot on location in Winton, Queensland. Plot In 1880s Australia, Charlie Burns and his gang engage in a gunfight with the police. All of the gang members except for Charlie and his younger brother Mikey are killed. Captain Morris Stanley tells Charlie that he will have Mikey executed by Christmas, which is in 9 days. Stanley offers to free both Mikey and Charlie if Charlie agrees to kill his older brother Arthur Burns, who is wanted for rape and murder. Mikey remains in custody while Charlie sets out to kill their brother. During a raid, the police capture some Aboriginal people who call Arthur a "dog man", and no one goes near his cave. Riding in search of Arthur, Charlie comes to the charred remains of the Hopkins home, a family that was murdered and the wife raped by the Burns gang. Along the way, he encounters an inebriated old man named Jellon Lamb in a cantina where the owner has been speared to death. Charlie realizes that Lamb is a bounty hunter in pursuit of the Burns brothers and knocks him out. Later, Charlie awakes and is speared in the chest by a group of Aboriginal men standing over him. Before passing out, he sees the man who speared him get shot in the head. In town, Eden Fletcher, who hired Stanley to "clean up" the area, orders that Mikey be given one hundred lashes as punishment for the rape and murder of the Hopkins family. Stanley is aghast at this, as he believes Mikey is not responsible for his actions and the flogging will kill him, and because it will break his deal with Charlie and bring the Burns gang's revenge upon him and his wife. Stanley sends Sergeant Lawrence away with tracker Jacko and other men to "investigate" the reported slaying of Dan O'Riley (the dead man in the cantina) by a group of Aboriginal people.