Review of The Proposition (2005) by Jer M — 13 Jun 2009

THE PROPOSITION is, without question, one of the best films made in the last 20 or 30 years. Too bold a statement, you say? Not really, when you consider how chillingly this film stares into the craggily flintrock abyss that separates life from death. At a time of real life war where our movies have bodies being slung around like pizza toppings, THE PROPOSITION socks us straight in the jaw and picks up the bloody pieces of our psyches to see the violent impulses that drive us all.

At first, it seems relatively simple. The Proposition of the title is offered to a notorious gunslinger: Kill your outlaw brother so that your slower, less vicious brother will not have to die a gruesome death at the hands of our government. As soon as the deal is struck and the plan sets into motion, the true twists of morality begin to reveal themselves. Who says that one life is worth less than another? Do vicious acts degrade your worth as a human being? Are your victims properly honored if you are put to death? To deal with these questions as well as he does fimly puts Nick Cave into Cormac McCarthy territory with his beautiful screenplay.

And it truly is beautiful. The language is both turns cutthroat and poetic and it elevates the film into the realm of a visual novel. The screenplay toys with our expectations as audience members, boldly exposing our twisted moral freakeries for valuing one life over another. And how many times have we cheered a villain's death after a movie's worth of torments towards our heroes? And how many times have we read about a horrifying murder and felt a little twinge of happiness at a remorseless killer's death at the hands of the needle?