Watch The Proposition online

"Thus Stanley lays out Charlie an unholy bargain: While Mikey stays in his custody, in jail, Charlie must find, kill or return Arthur or his teenaged brother will be hung on Christmas Day… He has nine days to do so… Charlie eventually finds his brother but is left with one choice… He must decide if he can live with his decision to either kill Arthur or let Mikey be executed… John Hillcoat's characters not only strike us with their emotions of grief and pain, or their passion of hate but they are presented in their real states that sway down hopelessness, denial, pity and firm belief… Pearce combines a touch of kindness to Charlie's character, but it's a touch that keeps out of the way any love… It's, in essence, only enough to add a decisive influence on his personality that makes him unpredictable… Danny Huston is magnificent as Arthur Burns… His deeply intelligence and totally brutal character is captured in a very good sense… Richard Wilson, Mikey is given little to do beyond being frightened and horrorized… Winstone is amazing in the role of the army officer who wants to civilize the place… We feel how his nerves are about to break… He imprisons his wife Martha for safety and protection caring at the same time about her delicate sensibilities… Emily Watson is absolutely stunning as the fragile woman whose gentleness captures convincingly the character of Emily, the innocent wife who cares about her husband, her house and her perfect "garden" but her way of life is so far away from the reality of her surroundings… John Hurt gives an interesting performance as the deranged bounty hunter… "The Proposition" is too violent, too dirty, too bloody, and too barbaric to be forgotten so easily…"