官兵捉强盗的游戏，玩到后来总是分不清谁是官兵，谁是强盗；谁是猎人，谁是猎物。从一场官家围剿强盗的枪战开始的好莱坞电影《猎杀》（“The Proposition”），恐怕就是这么一场官盗难分的格斗。场景，澳大利亚昆士兰内陆；时间，1880年代；背景，无边无际的荒漠，还有如血的残阳。凶悍的强盗，残暴的官兵，粗犷的土著，加上怪石嶙峋的山谷，桀骜不驯的植物，生动地构勒出一副地狱般的图像，从中爆出一群仙人掌一般的人物。







借用剧中人物所念叨的一句莎士比亚台，叫做“这是个什么样的短命地狱！” （“What fresh hell is this?”）当然，这其实不是地狱，而是一部风格雄浑的好莱坞影片。好莱坞似乎很久没有制作如此狂野的片子了，一下子上人回到了遥远的西部片时代。







比起当年的西部片，《猎杀》显然更加狂野和混沌。选择19世纪的澳大利亚内陆作背景，不是为了讲述历史，而是为了将画面做得更加原始。看惯了肥皂剧的美国观众，一定会被混沌初开式的旷野和野兽般的人物震撼得激动不已。在懒洋洋的啤酒中浸泡惯了之后，突然猛喝一口烈酒，会同时杂间火烧火缭和沁人心脾这两种截然相反的感受。







影片在人物塑造上采取了善恶交叉、黑白间杂的手法。强盗中有冷血的大哥阿瑟（Arthur），有小兔子般可怜的小弟麦基（Mikey）；而殖民官府那边，则既有残暴的警察，又有善良美丽的上校夫人，玛莎（Martha）。两位男主角，强盗三兄弟中的老二查理（Charlie）和斯坦利上校（Stanley），则分别站在这两片黑白区域的当中；一个是恶中有善，一个是善中有恶。







基于这样的人物关系结构，影片的两处高潮，分别由可怜的小弟遭笞和善良的上校夫人被奸呈现。上校夫人玛莎在警署里第一次见到才14岁的麦基时，彼此的目光里就同时蕴含了深切的同情。仿佛互为镜子一般，双方都从对方的眼神里，感觉到了自己的命运。后来，玛莎看着可怜的孩子被鞭打得血肉模糊之际，痛苦得晕倒在地。也许是这样的痛苦，致使玛莎最后遭受盗匪带有复仇意味的强奸时，脸上的表情与其说是痛苦的、羞耻的，不如是说麻木的、茫然的。







影片的人物关系结构，仿佛一个刻意安排好的天体运行图。整个宇宙运行的第一个推动，则来自斯坦利上校一个不无古怪又不无慈悲的念头。在一场枪战之后，斯坦利告诉被俘的老二查理，他可以放走查理，条件是把14岁的老三麦基留下作为人质。他让查理回去杀死作恶多端的老大阿瑟，以此换回麦基。于是，查理面临了艰难的选择，在两个兄弟之间，在官府和强盗之间，在和平和暴力之间，也在爱和恨之间，也在善良与邪恶之间，更在个人良心和社会正义之间。







斯坦利上校那个超乎寻常的念头，把查理推进了地狱。虽然影片以相当生动的画面，展示了地狱般的图景；但真正的地狱，却是在查理的内心深处。



最后，查理是如此这般地得以解脱的：救出奄奄一息的弟弟，然后将他埋葬在乱石堆里；再杀死正在强奸上校夫人的同伙，打死恶名昭著的阿瑟、他那个深爱着他查理和麦基的大哥。整个影片的最后一个画面，是查理和垂死的阿瑟，并肩坐在血红的残阳里，坐成二个剪影。阿瑟的脑袋似乎不小心地向前一低，聋拉了下去。镜头轻轻地拉开，一片死寂。







画面是混沌的，手法却是相当精致的，或者说，颇是人为的。影片时不时地让人感觉到明显的雕凿痕迹。比如，麦基被鞭笞的场面，会让人想起梅尔·吉布逊的《基督受难》。饰演玛莎的演员，尽了很大的努力，尽量将角色演得精致和优雅，但导演让她坐在浴缸里向丈夫轻声述梦一段，却处理得犹如恐怖片。那样的构想，还不如让她坐在钢琴跟前、弹奏一曲肖邦来得更富诗意。而且，在钢琴盖上遭受强奸和在书桌上受辱的对比效果，无疑是很不相同的。前者要强烈得多。导演也许被自己设计的画面给征服了，脑子里充满了如何制作恐惧，忘记了影片本意是立足于如何从荒蛮之中拍出诗意。







无论是从画面构思、摄影角度、明暗对比着眼，还是从音乐配置上说，此片原初的构思是一部诗意盎然的警匪片。尤其是有关夕阳的拍摄，可谓用心良苦。几度夕照，一派苍凉。影片还有意识地一再运用剪影，给满目的荒蛮，平添一片片不无雅致的凄美。







有些细节是令人难忘的。麦基遭笞时，同时闪现盗匪山姆（Sam）站在山谷里，像天使般地唱着爱尔兰民歌。在斯坦利上校和夫人玛莎恩恩爱爱的当口，画面上交替出现的是，查理在一个脏兮兮的酒气熏天的小屋里，遇见兰博（Lamb），一个喝得醉意朦胧却依然满口莎士比亚台词的怪人。







虽然这些细节看上去似乎都像是天然浑成的，演员也演得相当自然，但细细一品，不难感觉出刻意的雕琢，带有明显的刀工斧迹。







这么说，当然不是挑剔，而是觉得意犹未尽。好不容易看到如此一部狂野奔放的影片，却被过于细心的经营，做得过犹不及。然而，即便如此，在一派或者嘻嘻哈哈逗乐，或者想方没法媚俗的好莱坞风气里，此片也已然可属上乘之作。假如奥斯卡评奖委员会的诸位大人们不像在下这么挑剔的话，那么应该考虑给个小金人。

'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"

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

记者（以下简称“记”）：《关键协议》是怎么成型的？
Nick Cave（以下简称“NC”）：我和导演John Hillcoat认识有20来年了，在这20年里有18年他都在想着去拍一拍澳大利亚西部，并且由我来负责做音乐部分。我和他一起工作已经18年了，到最后，他拿了个从美国西部故事改编成的澳大利亚西部片剧本给我，其实我们都知道这根本不是我们想要的东西。他说：“好了，滚【文明用语】蛋，你来写。”就这样，我就开始干了并且在三周内完成了剧本。当时我并不想花很多时间，因为我不想花时间在我自己认为根本不可能成功的事上。但是在经过多年的困难之后，John还是成功了。

记：写这个剧本时，你受美国西部片的影响大吗？
NC：我认为John受70年代的那股反西部片风潮的影响很大。一般澳大利亚人对自己的历史的看法和美国人看待自己历史有很大不同。我们没有接触诸如黑人问题或者恶棍与英雄之类的东西。我们对历史更加有抵触心理，而且感觉到一种不确定性甚至羞耻。我认为我们基本上可以把自己的历史看成是一个失败和无能的过程。我对凯利党的印象很深。《关键协议》里的英雄比较阴暗，你可能会同情某个人物，同时觉得另一个人物是罪有应得的，但到最后，你却分不清哪个人是值得同情的，而哪个人是罪有应得的。有时候你会觉得自己和某个角色的想法一致，但后来又觉得和另一个角色的想法一致了。这些角色都在被他们的愚蠢所慢慢毁灭。

记：能不能再多谈一些澳大利亚人对自己历史的理解？
NC：恩……不知道你有没有看过那些在美国的黑人接受私刑的照片，那些白人就站在那那么看着，甚至还带着他们的孩子，就好象把看私刑当成了一种娱乐。我不认为他们的这种行为说明他们就没希望了。但是从这部电影所要表达的中心意义来说，这是一群本不该待在这片土地上的人的故事，也许地球上本来就该有一些地方不该被人类占据。我发现那种在看鞭打刑罚时挂在人们脸上的对暴力的入迷是我们最原始的本能。我认为，我们越进步，实际上得到的结果却是相反的。这是你的本性，也是我的本性。种族仇恨、种族仇杀、谋杀都是人类最基本的本性。实际上我觉得人类做得比这些还要多，我们手中所拥有的科技手段越发达，也就意味着我们学会了更快更有效的毁灭人的方法。

记：你为什么没演个角色？
NC：这是JOHN的意思。（笑）

记：作为一名剧本创作者，你都受了什么影响呢？
NC：我不是特别爱电影的那种，但是我看了很多很多电影。我对电影的爱好不能和我对音乐或者文学的爱好相提并论。比如说，当我听一首歌的时候我通常会带着分析的眼光来听，我会对这首歌发问，为什么会这样进行？歌词为什么会这样？我对文学也是一样。我对语言及其运用非常感兴趣。对待电影我则比较随意了，来到DVD商店，买4张DVD，回家坐下开始看，不用动脑子。我可能会觉得某部伟大的作品很傻。你只是打开屏幕，开始看，无论好坏通吃。现在我脑子里有一大堆烂片、一般电影和佳片的储备，他们都影响了我。我经常在看电影时发问“他们干嘛要这样拍？”，“这样进行会更有趣嘛”

记：你给《关键协议》写剧本时也在同时制作影片的背景音乐吗？
NC：是的，剧本和音乐的进程是同步的，我觉得这个剧本很音乐化。

记：你有没有让片中某个角色做你的代言？
NC:没有，但是我很同情他们。对我来说，片中唯一的恶棍是那个霸占小镇并且施加暴力的人。

记：那个很有权势架子的人？
NC：是的（笑），我想让其他的角色以不同的方式受到同情，不管他们多么邪恶。唯一能让你觉得同情的角色是那种能够影射到自己的角色。我认为，他们都在我们身上体现出来了。

记：你有没有去片场？
NC：没，但是在开拍前我曾去过一次，并和演员一起做了一次排练，重写了他们认为演起来不舒服的地方。

记：拍摄地看起来很热？
NC：是啊，非常热，接近50度，不是一般人能承受的。好多戏都是在室内完成的，就更热了。场景是在沙漠里建的，由于太热的原因吧，有些设备失灵了。我不太了解具体情况，但确实他妈太热了。

记：西部片是一种很具延展性的片种，你在写剧本时就知道哪些元素会出现在影片里吗？
NC：不，实际上我门也不知道在拍摄中会发生什么。基本上都是JOHN在工作室，而我在做乐队的唱片“No More Shall We Part”。他把一个关于澳大利亚西部的故事拿过来，我看了一下，我们俩都觉得不太理想。随后在录唱片时，我就想到“如果安排三个兄弟怎么样？”，所以之后我就有了故事的前提。我开始写了，很明显得，故事不会朝一个美好结局发展。

记：在《关键协议》里有很多对暴力的想象，这是谁的主意？
NC：JOHN对暴力很感兴趣，他的前两部电影都很暴力。我认为他对暴力的后果和暴力将带你何去何从这样的话题很感兴趣。当他拍摄关于暴力的东西的时候，就会拍得很快很野蛮。人们说这是一部很暴力的电影，但是我不以为然。你看很多HOLLYWOOD出来的片子都非常暴力，有些剧本写出来就是为了表现大量的暴力元素。比如说我一直不太喜欢看塔仑蒂诺的片子。所以我说JOHN处理暴力的方式还是很现实的，暴力其实也是一种讲故事的方式。

记：作曲比你写剧本花得时间长是吗？
NC：是的，给影片配乐是一件非常难的工作，不是简单地垒砖块那么容易。对我个人来说，这也许是最困难的部分。当别人都开始试着写歌的时候，我还坐在办公室里在苦想要写些什么好。我被自己那些累人的想法以及脑子里的乱七八糟的东西搞地很累。这种写歌的习惯很难跨越。但是当我写剧本的时候，我只需要坐在那，有人对我说：“写一个澳大利亚西部故事。”我不需要过分担心，我需要做得就是坐在那，创造一些角色，然后让故事进行下去就行。

Set in the Australian outback in the 1880s, the movie follows the series of events following the horrific rape and murder of the Hopkins family, allegedly committed by the infamous Burns brothers gang.

The film opens in a brothel during a violent gunfight between the police and Charlie Burns' (Guy Pearce) gang, which ends with the deaths of all of the gang members except for Charlie and his younger brother Mikey. Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) makes the proposition to Charlie: he and Mikey can go free of the crimes they have committed if Charlie kills his older brother, Arthur (Danny Huston). Arthur is a mercurial psychopath who has become something of a legend and is so vicious that the Aboriginal tribes refer to him as "The Dog Man" and both the police and the Aboriginals refuse to go near his camp. Captain Stanley muses that perhaps the bounty hunters will kill Arthur in time and then states his intention to civilize the harsh Australian wilderness by bringing Arthur to justice and using Mikey as leverage. Charlie has nine days to find and kill Arthur, or else Mikey will be hanged from the gallows on Christmas Day.

We discover why Captain Stanley is intent on taming Australia: he has been forced to move there with his delicate wife, Martha Stanley (Emily Watson), and apparently wants to make it an appropriate place for them to live. The Stanleys were also friends of the Hopkins family, leading Martha to have nightmares about her dead friends and the unborn child one of them is revealed to have carried. Word spreads of Stanley's deal with Charlie, primarily from Stanley's corrupt subordinate, Sergeant Lawrence (Robert Morgan), causing disgust among the townspeople.

Shortly thereafter, Eden Fletcher (David Wenham), for whom Captain Stanley works, orders that Mikey be given one hundred lashes as punishment for the rape and murder of the Hopkins family. Stanley is aghast at this, not only because he believes that Mikey is innocent and the flogging will surely kill him, but because it would also break his deal with Charlie and thus put him and his wife in grave danger. Stanley sends Sergeant Lawrence away with tracker Jacko (David Gulpillil) and other men to "investigate" the reported slaying of Dan O'Riley by a group of Aborigines. Captain Stanley attempts to defend Mikey by gunpoint from the bloodthirsty townspeople, but is overruled once Martha arrives, insisting on revenge for her dead friends. Mikey is then brutally flogged, and horrifically wounded. The formerly excited townspeople slowly become disgusted and Martha faints at the ghastly display. After 40 lashes, Mikey has collapsed and the whip is soaked with blood. Captain Stanley grabs the whip and throws it at Fletcher, staining his face and suit with blood, who in turn fires Stanley.

Meanwhile, Charlie rides a great distance in search of Arthur, drinking and apparently reflecting on what he will do. Along the way, he encounters an inebriated old man named Jellon Lamb (John Hurt). In the course of conversation, Charlie realizes that Lamb is a bounty hunter in pursuit of the Burns brothers and knocks him out. Later on, after sleeping on a rock bed, Charlie awakes and, before he can gather what's going on, is speared in the chest by a group of Aboriginal men standing over him. Seconds later a gunshot is heard and the head of the man who threw the spear explodes. Charlie then passes out.

Charlie wakes up in the camp of his brother Arthur, which is located in caves among desolate mountains. Arthur's gang consists of Samuel Stoat (Tom Budge), who shot the Aboriginal man who had speared Charlie; a woman named Queenie (Leah Purcell) who tends to Charlie's wound; and a muscular Aboriginal man called Two-Bob (Tom E. Lewis). As he recovers from his wounds, Charlie has several opportunities to kill his brother, but does not. Not too far away from Arthur's camp, Sergeant Lawrence and his men have found and butchered a group of Aborigines. Arthur and Two-Bob find Lawrence's group while they sleep, ostensibly to get a horse for Charlie, and proceed to kill Jacko and Sergeant Lawrence. Before Arthur stomps Lawrence to death with his boot, Lawrence tells Arthur that Charlie has been sent to kill him. While this occurs, Jellon Lamb enters Arthur's camp and ties up Samuel and Charlie, both of whom are sleeping. Without his realizing it, Lamb is shot from behind by the returning Arthur. Arthur then proceeds to begin torturing the still-living Lamb with a knife, but Charlie instead performs a mercy-killing.

Charlie decides that he wants to break out Mikey and informs Arthur. Arthur, Samuel and Charlie ride into town dressed in the clothes taken from the officers Arthur and Two-Bob had killed, pulling behind them Two-Bob, posing as an Aborigine that they've captured. Once at the jail, the men free Mikey, and Charlie and Two-Bob ride off with him. Arthur and Samuel remain to slaughter the two officers inside the jail. The badly injured Mikey, who has never recovered from the flogging, dies in Charlie's arms. As they bury Mikey, Two-Bob tells Charlie that all of this is Charlie's fault: "You should never have left us."

Captain Stanley and Martha, who had become increasingly paranoid as they were ostracized by the townspeople after the flogging, let their guard down to have a peaceful, civilized Christmas dinner. Immediately following their conclusion of grace, Arthur and Samuel shoot open the door and invade their home. Arthur pulls Captain Stanley into the other room and brutally beats him, while Samuel taunts his wife. Arthur then calls Samuel to the room. Samuel drags Martha inside, and Arthur shoots Captain Stanley through the shoulder. As Samuel rapes Martha, Charlie walks in and informs Arthur of Mikey's death; Arthur ignores the news and encourages Charlie to listen to Samuel's beautiful singing. Charlie walks up to the unsuspecting Samuel and shoots him point blank in the head, then shoots Arthur twice, saying afterward, "No more." After this Arthur staggers out of the house. Charlie looks at a gun on the table that could potentially be picked up to shoot him, and then tells Captain Stanley "I want to be with my brother." Charlie leaves the house and follows a trail of blood to find Arthur hunched over on a hill nearby and sits down next to him. Arthur states that Charlie has finally stopped him and asks what he will do now, to no answer, and then slowly dies as his brother watches the blood red sunset of the outback.