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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Set in the 1880s, [The Proposition] opens in the middle of a frenzied gunfight between the police and a gang of outlaws. Charlie Burns ... and his brother Mikey are captured by Captain Stanley... Together with their psychopathic brother Arthur, ... they are wanted for a brutal crime. Stanley makes Charlie a seemingly impossible proposition in an attempt to bring an end to the cycle of bloody violence.'
Source: Nick Cave's website (http://www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com/)
Sighted: 20/09/2005
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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‘Brutal’ and ‘Grisly ’: Exploring the (non-Indigenous) Critical Reception to Two Australian Postcolonial Films of the Frontier, The Nightingale (2018) and The Proposition (2005)
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 14 no. 1 2020; (p. 47-62)'This article explores the marketing and non-Indigenous critical responses to the film The Nightingale (2018) by reading it alongside the reception and responses to a similar film, made over a decade earlier, a film that also studies the multi-layers of colonial violence. Using the film The Proposition (2005) as a foil this article considers the ways that violence figured by two non-Indigenous directors working in a postcolonial Australian context is interpreted by the critics reviewing films. The articles considers the different tropes, non-Indigenous critics offer viewers of the film. How do they suggest consumers interpret or experience the film? The argument is that the tropes, and cues can be understood both in terms of the immediate film experience, but also, for Australian viewers in terms of two ‘events’ – Reconciliation and the Uluru Statement – that help shape what national and counter histories of Australia have power at different times. The objectives of the article are therefore twofold. The first is to catalogue some of the ways each films’ marketing machine and then some key critics explained or described the plot and narrative of the two films, in particular how they explained the idea of colonial trauma in relation to the two events. The second objective is to examine how the reviewers/marketing material explained how each film deployed these ideas in order to challenge historically powerful understandings of history and belonging – in its multiple meanings – in Australia.' (Publication abstract)
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At Nature's Mercy : The Contemporary Australian Western
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Screen Education , no. 96 2020; (p. 46-55)'A genre mostly associated with quintessentially American landscapes and cultural tropes, the western has developed its own fascinating tradition in Australia - most notably, since the turn of the twenty-first century. Brian McFarlane surveys a range of films from the last two decades, dealing with subjects such as bushrangers, abuse and colonial dispossession, and finds both echoes of US antecedents and new visions that blaze their own distinctive trails.'
Source: Abstract.
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White Male History : The Genre and Gender of The Proposition
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Screen in the 2000s 2018; (p. 285-299) -
Australian Movie Scene's Influence on the World
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 27 December 2017; -
Western Wednesday with Blake Howard
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 4 October 2017;
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No Hero to be Found
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8-9 October 2005; (p. 23)
— Review of The Proposition 2005 single work film/TV -
Movie of the Week
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4 January 2010; (p. 18)
— Review of The Proposition 2005 single work film/TV -
The Proposition Rewatched – Outback Western Mixes Violence and Profundity
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 30 January 2015;
— Review of The Proposition 2005 single work film/TV -
Nick and John's Excellent Adventure
2005
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 25 September 2005; (p. 4) -
The Evening Redness in the West
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 1 October 2005; (p. 8) Discusses the way in which violence is presented in the film. -
Western Values
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: Limelight , October 2005; (p. 32-33) -
Written in Blood
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7 October 2005; (p. 5) -
Films with Backbone
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 26-27 November 2005; (p. 40)
Awards
- 2006 inaugural winner Gucci Award
- 2005 nominated Australian Film Institute Awards — Best Original Screenplay
- 2005 won IF Awards Inside Film Awards — Best Feature Film
- 2005 nominated IF Awards Inside Film Awards — Best Script
- 2005 nominated Film Critics Circle of Australia — Best Original Screenplay
- Queensland,
- Australian Outback, Central Australia,
- 1890s
- 1880s