Browse Movies : 2006 : Historical : T

Australian director John Hillcoat and singer Nick Cave reconvene for 2006's "The Proposition", with Cave penning the screenplay and providing a soundtrack written with Dirty Three member Warren Ellis. Cave's 19th-century tale begins with the proposition of the title, as Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) captures fugitive brothers Charley (Guy Pearce) and Mikey Burns (Richard Wilson) at a scene of bloody rape and murder. Informing Charley that he must kill his older brother, Arthur (Danny Huston), in order to be set free, Stanley drags Mikey to a decrepit jailhouse while he waits for Charley to carry out the deed.

The story centers on the two-year period of Mary and Joseph's life, culminating in their leaving Nazareth and journeying 100 miles to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. Key characters and events such as King Herod, John the Baptist's parents (Zachariah and Elizabeth), the shepherds who were witness to Jesus' birth; and the arrival of the three kings from the Orient will be fleshed out.

This is the epic tale of a pair of doomed lovers from warring nations, Tristan (James Franco) of Britain and Isolde (Sophia Myles) of Ireland, set during the time soon after the fall of the Roman Empire. Orphaned as a child, Tristan is raised by Lord Marke (Rufus Sewell), a friend of his family, and as he matures, Tristan becomes a brave knight who leads successful attacks against the forces of the Irish King Donnchadh (David O'Hara). When he is poisoned during one of these battles, however, Tristan is placed upon a funeral boat which eventually washes up on the Irish shores, where it is found by the Irish king's daughter, Isolde, who cures Tristan's ailment, as the two fall in love, unaware of who the other one really is. Tristan eventually returns to Britain, where he learns that the Irish king has offered up his daughter's hand in marriage under the guise of bringing the two countries together. Tristan eagerly volunteers to be Lord Marke's champion in the competition, and he wins, but his heart is soon crushed when he discovers that the woman he loves is actually the Irish princess whose hand in marriage he just handed to the man who has been his best friend his whole life...