The Proposition

Easily the best Australian western since Quigley Down Under. Maybe it's better than Quigley Down Under. Mike and Charlie Burns (Richard Wilson and Guy Pearce) are captured by Captain Stanley and his British cohorts. Mike is a simpleton, but Capt. Stanley forces Charley to make a deal: Go into the Outback and hunt down the real bad apple of the family, Arthur Burns, bring him back, and then both Charlie and Mike can go free. In the meantime, Mike will sit in jail as collaterol.

Why is Arthur such a bad apple? He and his gang slaughtered a family (18th century-looking stills of the scene are shown during the opening credits), and the group is so wild that the Aborigines believe he is able to shape shift into a wild dog. Actually, he just looks like a wild dog.

This movie has some beautiful cinematography, and much of it depicts some of the most violent scenes I've seen in ages. Or at least they're brutally realistic in a way that Saw II, for example, is not. Unlike Saw II, The Proposition is quite good at showing how civilized society is built upon violence, and that the demand for blood satisfaction runs deeper than we are usually willing to admit.