O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | 106 minutes | music, comedy, adventure, crime | Actors: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, Chris Thomas King, Charles Durning, Michael Badalucco, Wayne Duvall, Ray McKinnon, Daniel von Bargen

Combining comedy and crime, Ethan and Joel Coen (the Coen Brothers) have produced a bunch of quality films that will blow your mind, including ‘Fargo’ (1996), ‘The Big Lebowski’ (1998), and ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ (2001). With ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ they give their own view on Homer’s Odyssey. The Odyssey has often been edited and rarely matched, but the Coen Brothers version is well worth checking out.

In ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ the Odyssey is not simply retold and certainly not in the same order as in the classical work. Certain elements have been selected, reshaped and adapted to the context of Southern America during the Depression. Like Odysseus, Ulysses (not for nothing does he have this name) Everett McGill is a crafty talker. Ulysses (played hilariously by George Clooney) is also very vain: as long as his hair is right. He embarks on a true odyssey with two fellow inmates, the wimpy good guy Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) and the slightly less dorky Pete (John Turturro). One of the first they encounter on their way is a blind man who prophesies to them that their road will be long and arduous. This blind seer corresponds to Teiresias from the Odyssey. Not much later they are lured to water by a siren song of Christians dressed in white, where Delmar and Pete are baptized. However, the real Sirens come later, when the three are enchanted by the singing of three beautiful women in a lake. That scene is also an adaptation of the story of the witch Circe, who Odysseus transformed men into animals. After their adventure, Van Pete only thinks about a path Delmar and Ulysses initially think.

Another passage from the Odyssey that is used is where Odysseus’ men eat the cows of sun god Helios. After all, Ulysses, Pete and Delmar get a lift from manic-depressive criminal George Nelson, who shoots several cows and later has to pay for it. Also the famous passage with the Cyclops Polyphemos returns, in the scene where Big Dan (John Goodman) beats a very large man with an eye patch Ulysses and Delmar, takes their money and squeezes the toad. Ulysse’s wife Penny (Holly Hunter) is not as loyal as Penelope in the Odyssey. She is about to get married and wants to. But Ulysses is irresistible to everyone as Soggy Bottom Boy, and ultimately maybe to her too.

“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” is full of exciting and funny situations, such as a KKK meeting in which Governor Homer Stokes (what’s the name for a slack fascist??) plays a strange role as a KKK leader who breaks into slave song. Slave chants are important throughout the film anyway, including during the scenes with prisoners. The music in the film is appropriate and beautiful and the song by the Soggy Bottom Boys about a man of constant sorrow is infectious. Good use has also been made of color filters, the sepia and yellow tones give a warm, old-fashioned atmosphere.

“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” has several good elements in it that together form a hilarious, exciting, beautiful film.