O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: In 1937 Mississippi three
fugitives from a chain gang race to save a
treasure from being flooded by a new dam.
Lacking the power of the best of the Coen
Brothers, this is a sly little Southern Odyssey
with more than its share of chuckles. The story
works only in episodes but the unusual time and
setting and the odd characterization pull the
film along. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), low +2 (-4 to
+4)
The 1941 Preston Sturges comedy SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS told of a movie director who decided that in the hard depression era, fluffy comedies just were not what the world needed. He wants to make a serious film about the down-trodden in the South. When the director sees the real world he discovers what the world really needs is more fluffy comedies like . . . well, like that Preston Sturges guy makes. On to the ash heap go his plans to make the serious and important film O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? Apparently Joel and Ethan Coen have decided to make a film called O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? after all. In spite of the dour title it seems that neither Sullivan nor the Coens could resist the urge to make fluff that belies the harsh setting.
The plot is simple enough. We start with a chain gang working soulfully in the blistering Mississippi sun. Somehow three men have managed to escape (as convicts always seem to from cinematic chain gangs) and are hiding in a cornfield. They are hobbled by a chain around their ankles and betrayed by their telltale broad-striped prison clothing. There is Everett Ulysses McGill (played by George Clooney), Pete Hogwollop (John Turturro), and Delmar O'Donnel (Tim Blake Nelson. The story follows them on a short odyssey into the poor South past sights and though a series of episodes, some of which will be drawn together in the final reel. Along the way they pick up and then lose a black guitarist Tommy Johnson (Chris Thomas King). They mix into music, and politics; they see a famous criminal's getaway, a baptism, and a Klan rally. In the end they have multiple whimsical Dei Ex Machinae. Some of the incidents are loosely and slightly pretentiously based on episodes of Homer's Odyssey. Others are inspired by SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS and perhaps bits of other films set in the Depression-era South like NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and FOOLS' PARADE and Davis Grubb stories.
The Coen Brothers are, of course, some of the most creative filmmakers going. This film is released by the unconventional combination of Touchstone and Universal. Roger Deakins shot the entire film with washed out colors to give the film something of a period feel. It works, though I am not sure why. They drop into scenes 1930s products, particularly hair pomade for the dapper Ulysses. They avoided two pitfalls here. They used no brands currently available so they respected their film sufficiently to avoid product placements. They also avoided that great cliche of the South, Moon Pies. One cliche they did not avoid is the choreographed and slightly too poetic chain gang. It always seems like an appeal to social conscience to show men chained up, though how different is it from children led together through town on a rope as we see in the latter portion of the film.
The music by T-Bone Burnett and others becomes an important element of the film rather than just creating atmosphere for incidents. The movie is suffused with the "Old Timey" music of the period which becomes important in the plot. There is a repeating theme of the characters getting into strange circumstances by following mystical music coming from the woods. Each time it is heard the boys will be tested in some way. Tim Blake Nelson is not one of the more familiar faces on the screen but manages to stand up with the more popular Clooney and Turturro, though in the musical scenes he seems relegated to a distinct third place. Also along in much smaller roles are familiar Coen veterans Charles Durning, John Goodman, and Holly Hunter.
As a single story, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? just does not amount to much. But the individual episodes are entertaining. I rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@avaya.com
Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper
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