The sound of buzzing flies can be heard in almost every scene in "
The Proposition," an earthy, dust-colored Western set in
the Australian frontier circa 1880. Even the outback's more civilized outposts -- the nice houses with lace curtains belonging to British officers' wives -- are beset with it. Grime, disease and death are everywhere. This violent anti-violence tale, written by gloom-rocker Nick Cave and directed by music-video veteran John Hillcoat, explores the gap between society and savagery with a story that's straight out of the Old West: A man is told that to save one brother's life, he must kill the other one. The brothers in question are the Burns boys, all outlaws and apparently responsible for a vicious rape and murder that took place not long ago. Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his brother Mike (Richard Wilson) have been captured by Capt. Stanley (Ray Winstone), a British commander who seeks to tame this brutal, anarchic land, and Stanley makes the devilish deal with Charlie. Either he find and kill his older brother, Arthur (Danny Huston), believed to be the ringleader, or Mike -- who is younger and mentally slow -- will be hanged.
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