Gary Dretzka
Noah Forrest
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Douglas Pratt
Ray Pride

On this first weekend in May, moviegoers not easily intimated by rabid action fans desperately seeking their first adrenalin rush of the season can accept a proposition or a promise as an alternative to the sensory punishment of M:I3. Easily daunted, I’ll probably curl up in front of the electronic fireplace and watch the Kentucky Derby, and wait for the smoke to clear in the local megaplex.

As a horseplayer, I can only hope that Tom Cruise chooses to stay at home with Katy and Suri, instead of hopping on a plane to Kentucky and galloping the winning colt through the streets of Louisville, bareback.

Having to prove one’s virility after every new movie must be very taxing on Cruise’s 45-year-old, Ritalin- and Paxil-free body. It’s even worse for those of us who would rather watch him act than attempt to become the Jack LaLanne of alternative religious beliefs.

Two movies from half-way across the globe provide legitimate options to standing in line for tickets, popcorn and rest rooms. The better of the two, The Proposition, is a new-fashioned western from the Outback of Australia. The Promise is a highly ambitious fantasy adventure from China, and reportedly the most expensive film ever to be made in that country.

Critical response for The Proposition has bordered on the ecstatic, with comparisons being made to Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone. Written and scored by Aussie rock musician Nick Cave, and directed by video-veteran John Hillcoat, it deftly captures both the desolation of the continent’s vast middle and brutality of the men who stole it from the Aboriginal population.

Critics generally have divided their opinions on The Promise, praising the film’s look while dumping on the undernourished CGI effects. Younger audiences, however, may find in the story told by Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, Temptress Moon) a diverting entertainment that’s delightfully imaginative and often very thrilling.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, neither film had a particularly easy time crossing the International Date Line. Hillcoat dismisses reports that his longtime labor of love ever was in danger of making its debut here in DVD, while distribution rights to The Promise changed hands from Weinstein to Warner Independent, along with the English translation of its title.

“The Proposition was always meant to be shown on the big screen, even if far more people will see it on DVD,” Hillcoat said, while on the American end of the publicity tour for the film. “Fact is, the industry now caters to the 70 percent of viewers around the world who watch their movies on disc.”

Set in the badlands of the Australian frontier in the 19th Century, the story pits a trio of violent brothers against colonial Brits, who would love to ship the Irish rabble back to the ol’ sod with an Aboriginal under each arm. These boys are at one with the land, however, and even the local constabulary is reluctant to venture too far into the Outback, knowing that the odds against them returning are in the favor of the elements, criminals and natives.

After one particularly unforgivable massacre, which even unhinges outlaw Charlie Burn (Guy Pearce), the police find themselves in possession of two of the younger Burns brothers, but not the eldest and most demented sibling, Arthur (Danny Huston). To capture Arthur, whose behavior even freaks out the natives, Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) proposes that Charlie bring in Arthur, in exchange for sparing the youngest brother from the gallows.

The arrangement, however sound, doesn’t sit well with Stanley’s sadistic boss. As the deadline for Arthur’s capture approaches, Stanley and his genteel wife Martha (Emily Watson) must deal with the increasingly scornful behavior of their neighbors, who make Jedd Clampett look a Rhodes Scholar.

Did I mention that everyone involved has only the vaguest concept of proper hygiene?

“Shooting in the Outback was like being on another planet,” recalled Hillcoat, a native of Queensland, which also supplied the locations for the film. “It’s much more harsh and extreme than the American desert.”

Throughout most of the movie, the characters literally are covered in flies, none of which were under the control of a bug wrangler. Like the omnipresent heat and dust, the discomfort caused by the flies is palpable.

“At one point, I thought the flies were going to implode the movie,” Hillcoat adds. “But, they provided a bonding experience for all of us.”

In his screenplay, Drake consciously avoided comparisons to any historical figures, specifically Ned Kelly. If westerns, or “Outbacks,” aren’t associated with the Australian cinema, it isn’t for lack of precedent.

“Ned Kelly and His Gang was made in 1906, only three years after The Great Train Robbery,” he points out. “It was banned by Victorian-era censors for its ‘romantic’ portrayal of bushrangers, who might otherwise have become folk heroes and inspired class war. The western wasn’t allowed to grow into a real genre in Australian cinema, although colonial-period dramas started re-surfacing in the ’70s.”

Lacking homegrown influences, Hillcoat found inspiration in the works of Terrence Malick, Robert Altman and Monte Hellman. He’s been told that The Proposition also echoes Peter Fonda’s underappreciated The Hired Hand, especially in its evocative and atypical musical score. He said he plans to view that 1971 film after the tour ends, however.

It’s been argued that many epic Chinese period films also fit the definition of “western,” with the primary difference being the costumes worn by the swordsmen and time that’s measured in dynasties, rather than decades. The warlords and their cronies dote on their horses, and good tends to triumph over evil. Instead of flashy swordplay and kung fu, cowboys show off by twirling their Peacemakers and using their fists to solve disputes.

In The Promise, Chen spins a tale in which promises and bargains made as children continue to shape us as adults.

In a far-away and long-ago kingdom, a starving nomad (Cecilia Cheung) makes a deal with a fairy princess, guaranteeing a life of luxury in return for any hope she’ll ever find true love. Naturally, this pledge comes back to haunt the concubine-turned-Princess Qingcheng, when she renews acquaintances with a precocious slave boy (Dong-Kun Jang) she met while scavenging food and clothes from the bodies of soldiers killed in a great battle.

She grows up to be magnificently beautiful, if unfulfilled romantically. He’s a remarkably nimble and talented warrior, blessed with the speed of a hummingbird. If it weren’t for that pesky promise, they’d be destined to fall in love and contribute to the overpopulation of the country.

If that geographical entity isn’t specifically designated as China, it’s because The Promise was consciously designed to appeal to pan-Asian audiences. The cast is comprised of Chinese, Korean and Japanese actors, and the bulk of the budget was covered by pre-sales to other Asian nations.

“There’s nothing historical in the film,” Chen allows. “It was inspired by a myth about a boy from a mythical Land of Snow who could defeat his master’s enemies, in part, by moving extremely fast. The histories of Asian countries are quite complicated, and some of the legends overlap.”

Chen might have been able to sell the concept to a western studio looking to exploit the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero, but he wanted to create something epic that Chinese audiences could consider their own. At $35 million, no American studio would consider staging the great battles and fight scenes required by the script, let alone pitting stampeding bulls against a warlord’s army in a horseshoe canyon. Nor, would the costume design come cheap.

“Maybe, I was a bit too ambitious, really,” Chen confided, when asked about criticism that some of the CGI was far below contemporary standards, and distracted from more fully realized material. “Some shots I was really satisfied with, but others not so much. Money and time constraints were prohibitive, and many of the people who worked on the special effects lacked training.

“That’s why we took some of the effects to Hong Kong, where they’re more accustomed to staging fight scenes. They weren’t that advanced, either, though.”

Chinese critics don’t carry the same weight as those in the west, he adds. “The audiences were very happy to see the first big fantasy film made by a Chinese director, in China. They appreciated what we were trying to do and really supported it.”

Some will see the irony in his comments. Several of Chen’s films have been banned from view in China by government censors, and there’s no guarantee those he might make in the future won’t be, as well. He takes them one at a time.

A less literal reading of The Promise would suggest, however, that Chen has created principal characters to reflect the international debate over globalization, with the warlords representing the dangers of diluting the culture. The star-crossed princess and warrior from the Land of Snow could be seen as defending traditional values and importance of art and diversity.

The pact with the fairy princess, he said, demonstrates what can happen when promises are made out of desperation and greed, with no concern for negative ramifications down the road. The hope comes in understanding that deals are made to be re-negotiated, even those arranged by a fairy princess.

May 5, 2006

- Gary Dretzka

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