The Proposition

The Proposition (2005) is a brutal Australian western you can watch online on iFILM. It is the 1880s, deep in a sun-scorched outback, when Captain Stanley captures outlaw Charlie Burns and hands him a choice with no clean way out.

The terms are merciless. To keep his younger brother Mikey off the gallows, Charlie has to track down and kill his older brother Arthur, the leader of a gang guilty of rape and slaughter. The deadline is Christmas Day. Charlie rides into red desert country where the law means nothing, edging closer to a man he loves and is bound to shoot. Guy Pearce plays Charlie, Danny Huston is Arthur, Ray Winstone is the captain, with Emily Watson and John Hurt rounding out the cast.

Directed by John Hillcoat from a screenplay and score by musician Nick Cave, the film carries a biblical heaviness and a slow, dust-choked rhythm. This is a western without heroes, where so-called civilization looks no kinder than the wild. Stream The Proposition (2005) online on iFILM.