the proposition

what happens to people that god forgets? "the proposition" a stunning australian film written by musician nick cave and directed by john hillcoat, cannot answer that question, but attempts to at least show us the residue of godlessness, and provokes the imagination to consider what hell looks, smells, sounds, and tastes like. this feral yet poetic western, which takes place in the australian outback circa 1880, juxtaposes civility with vileness, beauty with the revolting, sentiment with contempt, and compassion with misanthrope.

guy pearce ("momento" and "l.a. confidential") portrayed charlie burns, an irish outlaw at odds with not only the english colonists seeking to bring refinement to the aboriginal land, but also with his brother and his gang, arthur burns, a john the baptist meets charles manson type figure living in the wilderness, played to perfection by danny huston ("the constant gardner" and "21 grams"). the proposition raised by captain stanley (ray winstone) is simple: kill your brother arthur for the crimes he has committed, or watch your innocent, young, naive, brother, hang for those crimes. it's not so much a proposition but an ultimatum. regardless, the rest of the film spirals through hell in a manor that would leave william shakespeare wanting.

some have called this a "violent" western. maybe more "violent" than peckinpah or leone. i'm not sure how to quantify violence, but i can say that this film depicts an evil i have seldom encountered. for those who believe that the kingdom of god is at hand, it must also be considered that hell is lurking in the shadows as well. in the midst of high tea, rose bushes, fine china, green christmas trees, and the delicate features of martha stanley (emily watson), hell manifests itself with the constant buzz of biting flies, decomposing meat, primal urges, and drunken debauchery. poetry that would make an angel weep, is spouted before execrable acts that would cause a demon to cry.

in errol morris' documentary "the fog of war", robert macnamara's ninth lesson is "in order to do good, you may have to engage in evil." "the proposition" is an excellent anecdote in this principal. without being dogmatic or didactic, cave and hillcoat put shoe leather to the means which lead to an end. make no mistake, this film is not guided by moralism or principal. it is a lens through which the world is viewed, that does not make sense, have conclusion, redemption, or epiphany. it however does lead one down a path of reflection, and ultimately, what more can one ask for.

this is a startling film, that deserves attention. it is full of beautiful imagery, craftful cinematography, skillful acting, and a haunting soundtrack as one might expect (not only from nick cave, but also from jim white). enter it ready to be engaged, repulsed, and provoked. westerns as a genre, much like zombie films, are often parallels to the culture in which they are made. "the proposition" is no exception. this film will take it's place along side "high noon," "the man who shot liberty valance," "the wild bunch" and "the good, the bad, and the ugly."

official site

nick cave on-line

fog of war lesson plan pdf

walker evans photograph

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please know harold bloom

"i have only three criteria for what i go on reading and teaching: aesthetic splendor, intellectual power, wisdom." - from harold bloom's book "where shall wisdom be found?"



harold bloom, currently the sterling professor of the humanities at yale university, has taken upon himself a daunting task. it has been his quest to make sense of and canonize the thought that has shaped and influenced our western culture. bloom is considered by all to be the most important literary critic of our time, changing the very face of criticism, redirecting it's trace away from popular theories like those of new-historicists or post-modernist, to a lasting aesthetic criticism, that will not bend to fashionable trends. bloom's theories of literary criticism not only rival the scientific revolutions of einstein and hume, the philosophical contributions of kant and nietzsche, the technological advances of savery, ford, bill gates, and steve jobs, and the literary offerings of shakespeare and beckett, but also synthesize them in light of their inter-relation to one another.

bloom was born in the bronx in 1930 in a yiddish speaking household. while studying at cornell university, his mentor and professor m.h. abrams, the founder and general editor of the "norton anthology of english literature," described bloom as "a "fearsome" student, and "gifted beyond anybody I'd ever seen. he had that extraordinary ability to read a book almost as fast as you can turn the pages, not only to read it but to practically memorize it" (wikipedia). to whom much is given, much is required, and bloom acquiesced to the categorical imperative.

in 1992, bloom wrote "the american religion" which compared many of the protestant and post-protestant religions in the united states, and argued that they shared more in common with gnosticism than historical christianity. after that controversial splash, bloom wrote "the western cannon" an ambitious attempt to stamp authors, work, and thought as divinatory.

bloom's "western cannon" may have offended many due to it's hubristic nature, but it was welcomed by almost everyone familiar with the work and bloom's reputation as a definitive landmark and necessary tool for understanding the paradigm in which we live. obviously bloom paid considerable attention to shakespeare, (so much so that on my first reading i summed up his work with, "he basically says that all of western thought begins and ends with bill" - i am embarrassed by my assessment today). but he also deliberately accompanied the humanities through an aesthetic lens coherent with his literary theory.

bloom argued that samuel beckett was the most powerful living author of his time. curently, he reserves that distinction for jose saramago (beckett died in 1989). "in 2003 bloom said that "there are four living american novelists i know of who are still at work and who deserve our praise". claiming "they write the style of our age, each has composed canonical works," he identified them as thomas pynchon, philip roth, cormac mccarthy and don delillo. he named their strongest works as "gravity's rainbow" and "mason & dixon", "american pastoral" and "sabbath's theater", "blood meridian", and "underworld." he has also praised fantasy writer john crowley as these writers' equal and especially his novel "little, big" (wikipedia).

in what might be considered a defense of his western cannon, bloom released in 2000 "what to read and why." it has proven to be a very helpful tool in understanding and appreciating literature, philosophy, and thought, through our current cultural world view. bloom requires faith and trust, but it has been earned and legitimized. it would behoove us all to become familiar with harold bloom (instead of oprah).

an on-line list of bloom's cannon

get bloom books at powell's

traktor can very well some day, rule the world

this is one of my favorite all time music videos. traktor directs. check out their website to see more of their music videos and television commercials. if you only have one minute, watch "angry beaver."

traktor website

ingram

gram died the year i was born. we shared the same earth for six months. for that i am thankful.

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