As Prisicilla has decided to stay off the booze this month, and I wasn’t particularly in the humour for drink myself we went to the cinema instead last Friday. The Barfly was supposed to join us but decided not to come along for some reason known only to him. I no longer ask questions of my friends anymore, it’s easier that way.
We went to the Nick Cave penned The Proposition.
A notice before the credits warns that aboriginal peoples may be offended by the following images, in particular those from Torres Straight Islands as they will be exposed to images that would be considered disrespectful. A violin begins to wail lowly and a slide show of old photos begins, dusty and scratched. Some show groups standing stiffly in front of their homes, others are posed in military style, aboriginals in chains and one in particular shows a family of three, sleeping in an old feather bed at first glance, until your eye is drawn to the bullet holes bursting like fresh bloomed flowers on their bodies.
So the tone is set.
A dark and dusty Australian western that alternates between slow ponderous scenes of the outback and drawn out character studies interspersed with brief flashes of ultra-violence, The Proposition is not an easy movie to watch. for me to say ‘I liked it’ would be wrong, it’s not that kind of movie. It is a good movie, a thought provoking film that leaves you with a weird feeling in your gut. But it can in no way be described as a movie that you would ‘like’.
The cast all put in fine performances, Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, John Hurt, Danny Huston, Emily Watson and David Gulpilil who some may recognise from Rabbit Proof Fence. The only person who I was not comfortable with was David Wenham, but that may be because he reminded me of Richard Roxburgh’s turn as the Duke in Moulin Rouge! and I half expected him to break into a version of ‘Like a Virgin’ at any moment.
Under it all Nick Cave and Warren Ellis provide a voice for the outback with their amazing soundtrack. Although when we left the cinema Priscilla complained that he could have done without the repeated refrain of ‘The Rider'’.
‘The sun, the moon and the stars my fuckin’ arse.’

Yet another thumbs up movie, if you get a chance go see it before it finishes its run in theatres.