The Proposition

Australian-born singer/songwriter Nick Cave pens his second film (after "Ghosts ... Of The Civil Dead") and generates a prescient allegory about imperialism. Set in the Outback of 1880s Australia, the John Hillcoat-directed movie involves two diametrically different outlaw brothers who are pitted against one another by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) a local law enforcer threatening to execute their younger brother unless Charlie (Guy Pierce) murders his black-hearted brother Arthur (Danny Houston). Although Cave does not appear in the film, he composed its ethereal soundtrack with his longtime Bad Seeds collaborator Warren Ellis.

Rated R. 104 mins. (B+) (Four Stars)