Full of Biblical bleakness, The Proposition depicts 1880s Australia as an infernal landscape. As the captain (Ray Winstone) charged with maintaining a semblance of law and order says, “What fresh hell is this?” Winstone tries to reign in a band of ravaging brothers by capturing one of them (Guy Pearce) and convincing him to bring his oldest brother, the worst offender, in. Violent retribution of all sorts ensues. With Emily Watson as the captain’s wife, naively trying to establish a civilized home in the outback, and Danny Huston as the oldest brother, more wolf than man.
