关键协议

澳大利亚西部片，我有史以来看过的最血腥的片（日本片除外）。白人杀黑人、黑人杀黑人、白人杀白人三部分组成。那种神也救不了你的感觉，英系的沉重，和以前看的“风吹稻浪”、“稻草狗”挺像。可最后那个讨厌的政客还是没有死！音乐很棒，尤其是开头的提琴女童声：There is happy land far far away~~

这个电影豆瓣上的评论都不靠谱
导演的讲故事的能力有待提高
音乐很好，电影颜色也不赖，台词值得细细品
我根本就不明白一开始的枪战片是怎么回事
寻亲复仇似乎没有逻辑
到结尾杀掉Arthur更没有道理
The Burn's Family三兄弟就这样莫名其妙地被残杀
貌似王家卫的风格，不过故事连不成串
一个叫Eliza Hopkins的poor woman
had a child in her belly
不知道谁是凶手死了
剧中暗示Micky是rapist
可是又说Arthur是一个abomination
so Charlie被派去杀他的哥哥Arthur
中间还有一个疯疯癫癫的老头
不管怎么地，冲着音乐也值得一看。

"When?" said the moon to the stars in the sky.
"Soon," said the wind that followed him home.
"Who?" said the cloud that started to cry.
"Me," said the rider, as dry as a bone.
"How?" said the sun that melted the ground.
"Why?" said the river that refused to run.
"Where?" said the thunder without a sound.
"Here," said the rider, and took up his gun.

"No," said the stars to the moon in the sky
"No," said the trees that started to moan
"No," said the dust that blinded his eyes
"Yes," said the rider and pointed his gun.
"No," said the moon that rose from his sleep
"No," said the cry of the dying sun
"No," said the planets that started to weep
"Yes," said the rider and laid down his gun.

"Adieu," said the bird in the branch of a tree
"Farewell," said the snake to the dying light
"Adieu," said the fish in the river of sleep
"Goodby," said the rider, "Goodbye and goodnight"

'When?' said the moon to the stars in the sky
'Soon' said the wind that followed them all

'Who?' said the cloud that started to cry
'Me' said the rider as dry as a bone

'How?' said the sun that melted the ground
and 'Why?' said the river that refused to run

and 'Where?' said the thunder without a sound
'Here' said the rider and took up his gun

'No' said the stars to the moon in the sky
'No' said the trees that started to moan

'No' said the dust that blunted its eyes
'Yes' said the rider as white as a bone

'No' said the moon that rose from his sleep
'No' said the cry of the dying sun

'No' said the planet as it started to weep
'Yes' said the rider and laid down his gun



诗一样的西部片
情节、配乐、对话、旁白都透着Nick Cave的调调


Adieu, said the bird in the branch of a tree
Farewell, said the snakes to the dying light
Adieu, said the fish in the river of sleep
Goodbye, said the rider,"Goodbye and good night"

关键协议
tags: Nick Cave Guy Pearce 西部

本来是冲着Guy Pearce去的,看完以后发现,好久没看到这么干净的电影了.一直对西部片很有爱~广袤的景色,漫天扬起的黄沙,在荒凉的情境设定下,人物故事性就显得非常强了.

说到Guy Pearce,洛城机密中亦正亦邪的年轻警察,factory girl中"真实"的安迪沃霍尔,新片death defying acts中不温不火的魔术师,更不必提记忆碎片中遍布纹身的姣好身材...相信也是大多数此片粉丝的热情来源~ ~像这样外形演技超出同龄演员一大截,但由于其定位终究不能大红的新生代或中生代气质型帅哥,当然被我列为狂追的对象范围.(对早年的brad pitt, johnny depp不再痴迷,开始追guy pearce, ryan gosling, ethan hawke, 小罗伯特唐尼等埋头于独立电影,风味另类且独特的男演员,莫非我真的向装B文艺青年靠拢了- -汗一个...走题了)

回到影片的内容,很简单,身为黑帮的弟弟在打砸抢烧时被小镇警察的A方人物虏获并达成协议,后者要挟其强奸妇女的弱小兄弟作为筹码,与弟弟达成一份协议:让弟弟带回更加"臭名昭著"的哥哥.期限未过,弟弟的兄弟被违反协议的警察B方人物以鞭笞示众维持治安的理由残酷折磨至死.哥哥大怒,和弟弟回到小镇,将B方警察活活打死,欲将A方警察灭门时,弟弟闯入,将哥哥及其喽啰射杀.

Nick Cave的音乐乍一听平淡无奇,仔细品来却恰到好处,与影片氛围相得益彰.此片的主题也是一样;平淡中蕴含着深刻.每一个人都有自己的角度,如果从这种角度坚持信仰,必然会触碰到别人的利益,成为别人眼中的罪恶.就像片中的弟弟,与小镇警察本来是对立的,为什么在最后时刻射杀了杀人不眨眼,自己一直很崇拜的亲哥哥?因为他们的行为超越道德底线,违背了自己的信仰.小镇警察A方从利益的角度出发,放长线钓大鱼,自己也极力反对B方警察毁约的行为,无奈寡不敌众,最后命悬一线.但是弟弟最后的"拯救"行动超越了他和哥哥之间的亲情,宽恕和道德超越了家庭.完全之于自身的信仰.B方警察则是官僚主义国家机器的代表,但是从其角度来说,"惩恶扬善",保卫小镇居民安全,就是错的吗?哥哥的位置就更不必讨论,家庭的责任让他变得高大起来,况且坏人做坏事还需要理由!?甚至哥哥手下那个阴阳怪气的喽啰,干坏事时哼起美妙的歌声,从那一刻来看,他也是相当可爱的~每个角色都无关善与恶,无关是与非,没有英雄,没有恶棍.故事的结局,人物的"下场",都在不断激化的矛盾中被无奈的催生出来.

还有一些细节的刻画,比如A方警察队长与其妻子的美好家庭生活,是对哥哥和弟弟残缺家庭模型的一个反衬,以及对最后结局的铺垫.还有对于暴力画面的描写,冷静的点到为止,非常的喜欢.

记忆最深的一段就是哥哥和弟弟坐在夕阳下,倾心的聊天.此情此景,不禁令人黯然泪下.还有最后一幕前哥哥说的那句台词,大意是这样:人与人之间是没有仇恨的.because we are families.无非是点睛之笔.

By Gary Sun

Notes: Hi Brigid, this article was originally written by me - Gary Sun



‘The Proposition’ And The Exploration Of The Australian Western Genre

In the nineteenth century, the Australian mainland started to be colonized by the Europeans. This period of history is composed of barbarous racial and intra-racial massacres, atrocities and countless people’s blood. The 2005 film ‘The Proposition’ directed by John Hillcoat and screen-scripted by Nick Cave is one of the rarest remarkable texts, which highlights the status of Australian Western genre in the world literature. Through the ingenious use of camera and narrative structure, ‘The Proposition’ authentically depicts the complexity and destructiveness of the modern Western civilization on Australian continent and thus leaves us to reconsider and reevaluate this specific period of history.

‘The Proposition’ tells a fictional story of the British Captain Stanley making a deal with Charlie Burns in order to stop his older brother Arthur’s outrages in town. Charlie has to kill Arthur, otherwise his teenage simpleton brother Mickey will be hanged for rape and murder on the approaching Christmas day. In this essay, the text will be discussed in terms of genre, especially by analyzing the last scene: While Captain Stanley and his wife Martha are having dinner for Christmas, Arthur invades their house and violently turns everything into chaos, and later is shot by arriving Charlie.

The genre of the text is generally classified as Western. Since Western genre was initiated by great American directors John Ford and Howard Hawks during twenties of the last century, Western films have always been linked to the Hollywood. ‘The proposition’ as an Australian version of Western genre, obviously shares many similar elements with the American ones. In the last scene, we can tell those characteristics from the vast and desolate desert outside Captain Stanley’s house, Arthur’s revolver, Charlie’s horse and the tragedy of Captain Stanley who symbolizes the power and authority of the colonial government.

However, Australian bushrangers should not simply be considered as equivalent to American cowboys. According to Jack Sargeant, ‘the American outlaw is pursing a variant of the American Dream, albeit by amoral means, while the Australian bushranger is simply trying to survive against the odds, driven to his cold circumstance’ Hence, Australian Western is perceived as a new genre by combining American Western elements and the unique historicity of Australia together; a new genre which is often named bushranger film. Often the heroic and romantic depiction of outlaws is mythologized and reinforced in classic American texts, not as the authentic reflection of the history. However, in ‘The Proposition’, this idea of heroism is challenged and even rejected. Instead of being legends, bushrangers in ‘The Proposition’ are depicted as ordinary human beings who also make mistakes and bear moral ambiguity.

For example, Arthur is rather portrayed as a romantic and poetic figure in the text: he gallops across the vast desert to rescue his brother; he sits in the sunset and praises the beauty of the nature; he seeks a perfect bond of family; he expresses once that dying alone without the people he loves is horrifying. However in the scene where he takes his revenge on Captain Stanley for the proposition by asking his subordinate Samuel to sing while raping Martha in front of Stanley. When Charlie tells him that Mickey is dead, Arthur doesn’t seem to care and continue praise Samuel’s singing. The image of Arthur suddenly becomes ambiguous. Arthur’s charm and humanism seem to evaporate. Instead, he is turning into a hateful viper.

As the centered character, Charlie’s experience is much more complex than punishing the despicable. He is given the most difficult question in the world: he has to decide which of his brother is going to die. He fails to shoot Arthur on several occasions which demonstrates his struggles. After Mickey’s death, he arrives at Stanley’s house and therefore finds out Arthur’s atrocity. Even though Captain Stanley has breached his proposition, Charlie helps to stop the ongoing tragedy by shooting his brother to death. Charlie’s movements and attitudes are seen as righteous and enlightened since he tries to stop the continuation of violence in town. In fact, however, this character is trapped by great confusion, helplessness and self-contradiction. ‘I’m going to be with my brother.’ Charlie says to Captain Stanley. Even though he is disappointed at Arthur, he still loves his brother. Thus his image is portrayed as passive, struggling and morally ambiguous. What he does should not be seen as a reflection of heroism, but a way to survive under the oppressive and cruel environment. As Jack Sargeant stresses in his article, ‘there is no glamour or heroism here, just the pragmatics of needing to survive over the next few weeks, days, hours, even minutes.’

More importantly, in order to dramatize the epic stories of outlaws, the authority is always depicted as corrupted, oppressive, violent and unjustified in classic American Western films. In fact, ‘The Proposition’ does reflect the brutality of Australian colonial government in Queensland as the authority figure. For instance, to civilize the place, the police office often indiscriminately arrests and tortures local Aborigines, which is referred to the process of assimilation or annihilation. Conflict definitely plays a crucial role in leading and developing the remarkable narratives of Australian bushranger films.

However, character Captain Stanley’s experience slightly contrasts with the classic brutish characteristics of authority figures. ‘I am going to civilize this place’, Stanley’s early line reveals his power and authority straight away to the audience. However, his attempt to seek for real justice shows that he is less insensitive. When Stanley’s superior Captain Fletcher orders him to whip Mickey as punishment, Stanley fights against Fletcher and tries his best to protect Mickey, not only because this would hold the proposition, but also because Stanley believes that it is unfair for Mickey to undertake the punishment. After Mickey being whipped to unconsciousness, Stanley’s talking care of him shows his kindness and humanism. Therefore this character gains some sympathy from the audience in the scene where he gets beaten up and even shot. According to Jane Stadler’s statement, ‘The Proposition’ depicts a series of obliquely related acts of interracial and intra-racial violence and retribution in which heros, villains and innocent parties are ill-defined.’ Therefore, apart from complex racial conflicts, moral ambiguity plays also a key role in making Australian bushranger genre distinctive from the American Western genre.

In addition, a unique Australian Western genre is not only conveyed narratively but also cinematographically in ‘The Proposition’. The text uses the Australian landscape to draw a distinction between Australian and American Western films. Since the story is set in the outback Queensland in the nineteenth century, with the scenery of the desolate and bare desert with numerous flies and unbearable heat, ‘The Proposition’ depicts Australia as an inhospitable and uncivilized ‘fresh hell’. The vast desert landscape in a endless vista is shown in the selected scene where Charlie gallops across the desert to Stanley’s house. Compared with Stanley’s ‘little England’ in the middle of the desert which symbolizes civilization and modernity, the Australian continent seems to be full of dangers and unknowns. This is linked to the argument that, instead of defending something against injustices, Australian bushrangers are more concerned to survive from the dreadful environment. Interestingly, the use of landscapes in ‘The Proposition’ does not only contrast internationally but also intra-nationally. Compared with other Australian bushranger films such as ‘Ned Kelly’, landscapes in ‘The Proposition’ is bright and contrasting in colors. As Rebekah Brammer mentions in her article, ‘silhouettes against blood-orange sunsets are also used at salient point in the story.’ In the selected scene, Arthur sits in the magnificent sunset while bleeding to death. His sad demise contrasted with the landscape emphasizes the conflict between brutality and beauty echoing on the continent.

In conclusion, ‘The Proposition’ tells its own western story of Australian and more focuses on the authenticity of the brutal Australian colonial history rather than mythology of classic outlaws of Hollywood or famous Australian bushrangers such as Ned Kelly. It really brings Australian western genre into a new level, distinguishable from Western stories elsewhere. As the screen-writer Nick Cave says in an interview, ‘we didn’t want it to sound like an American western that had been dumped in Australia. There is a certain incompetence that exists in the Australian character today, a real savagery and cruelty behind that kind of attitude.’ he adds ‘this film is about an isolated community, people struggling in a place where they really have no right to be.’




 Reference:
Brammer, Rebekah, Ned Kelly vs The Proposition: Contrasting images of Colonialism, Landscape and the Bushranger, Metro Magazine, issue 158, September 2008
Hillcoat, John (director) and Cave, Nick (script writer), The Proposition, 2005
Nick Cave and John Hillcoat: The Proposition Interview, futuremoveis, http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/filmmaking.asp?ID=159, 27 February 2006
Stargeant, Jack, Bloodshed Down Under: Mad Dog Morgan And The Proposition, issue 161, June 2009
Stadler, Jane, Landscape Spaces’ Colonial History, Metro Magazine, issue 163, December 2009

暴力，血腥，污秽；
粗砺，蛮荒，冷冽；
荒野，落日，骑士；
优美，抒情，诗意……
女人是不合时宜的干净和优雅；
男人是暴力之后的悲哀与孤独。
这是一个善良的人讲述的暴力的故事，
历史尘封背后难以尽述的黑与白，好与坏。
 
看完这部电影，对《末日危途》又有了更多期待……
 
 
月亮对星星说：何时？
伴随他回家的风说：很快。
开始哭泣的乌云说：是谁？
形如枯骨的骑士说：是我。
熔化大地的太阳说：怎样？
拒绝流动的河流说：为何？
一声不响的雷神说：哪里？
拿出手枪的骑士说：这里。