Review: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
DVD Release Date: June 12, 2001
Tagline: "They have a plan, but not a clue."
Length: 106 minutesMPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violence and language
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a laugh-out-loud-funny comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski). Based loosely on Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, the film is set in 1937 Mississippi and tells the tale of how Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) escapes from a chain gang and makes a difficult journey to a town named Ithaca to reunite with his ex-wife Penny (Holly Hunter). The movie is filled with 1920s and 1930s American music, including folk, bluegrass, gospel, and blues. I was particularly impressed with the way the movie combines elements of myth with a folktale's sense of magic and wide-eyed wonder.
On the DVD version of O Brother, the Coen brothers have a little fun as they characterize their film. Joel says, "We sort of combine the Three Stooges with Homer's Odyssey." Ethan remarks, "It's a Ma and Pa Kettle movie, but with really big production values." And Joel says, "As we were making this, we sort of decided we were probably making the Lawrence of Arabia of hayseed movies." But make no mistake: O Brother is a very sophisticated entertainment, although it can be enjoyed on a naive level as well.
At the beginning of the film, Everett (Clooney), Pete (John Turturro), and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) escape from a chain gang and try to jump into a boxcar on a moving train. The boxcar is already occupied by a number of bums, and we realize that the Great Depression is on. The soundtrack plays the famous hobo folk song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" performed by Harry McClintock.
Soon Everett, Pete, and Delmar meet a blind soothsayer, who tells them, "You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the fortune you seek. But first ... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril."
The three escaped convicts manage to reach the farm of a man named Wash Hogwallop, a cousin of Pete's. As they sit around a table eating Wash's food, Delmar compliments his host, "This stew's awful good." Wash responds, "You think so? I slaughtered this horse last Tuesday. I'm afraid she's startin' to turn."
But Wash turns the escapees in for the bounty, and they have to hit the road again. While pausing to roast gopher in a wooded area, they are suddenly surrounded by church members slowly walking along and singing "Down to the River to Pray." This sequence in the movie parallels the Lotus Eaters episode in The Odyssey. The congregation conducts a baptism, and Delmar and Pete come forward and are both briefly submersed in the water.
Later, as the escapees drive along a country road, they pick up a young black guitarist named Tommy Johnson. When Delmar asks him what he's doing out in the middle of nowhere, Tommy answers, "Well, I had to be at that there crossroads last midnight. Sell my soul to the devil." Everett asks him, "What'd the devil give you for your soul, Tommy?" Tommy responds, "Well, he taught me how to play this here guitar real good." Everett sums up his reaction to the recent developments by saying, "Pete and Delmar just been baptized and saved. I guess I'm the only one that remains unaffiliated."
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