The Proposition is an Australian Western from 2005.  Nick Cave composed and performed the music which was quite notable.  Interestingly enough, Mr. Cave also wrote the movie.

SPOILER ALERT

So the premise for our movie is laid out in the first scenes.  Charlie is a man given the choice between his two brothers.  One is taken into custody and will be hung in nine days time if he doesn’t bring his other fugitive brother to justice by killing him.  This is quite possibly the grittiest movie I have ever seen.  It takes place in the Australian desert and all the characters have a mix of sweat and dirt on their faces for the entirety.  Every one has a long straggler’s beard and copious quantities of oil in there hair.  You can feel the grime and the desert heat in every scene.  Man is shown as really primal bruts here.  The music was outstanding.  There are scenes that may have felt weak, but with the music become much more substantial.  The movie had well-written dialogue and the constant lingering conflict of how can one choose between two brothers which is resolved later as they both end up dying.  I liked the premise and the movie as a whole, but I just felt the story itself was a little weak.  Other than the obvious main conflict, there just wasn’t much else.

“Mr. Murphy, Russia, China, the Congo, oh, I have traveled among unknown people in lands beyond the seas. But nothing, nothing, could have prepared me for this godforsaken hole.”

5/10