O Brother, Where Art Thou?                     Joel Coen Director Ethan Coen Screenwriter                                                    Cast                                                    George Clooney Ulysses Everett McGill John Turturro Pete Hogwallop Tim Blake Nelson Delmar O'Donnell John Goodman Big Dan Teague Holly Hunter Penny Wharvey                                       Other Information                                        2000 106 Minutes Rated PG-13 In English

With a body of work that includes the films Raising Arizona, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have established themselves as one of the premier filmmaking teams in modern American cinema. Adding to the brothers' reputation for developing risky and unusual comedies is O Brother Where Art Thou?, the Coen brothers' latest film. O Brother Where Art Thou? is an eccentric comedy that is loosely based on Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. Although the brothers claim that they have never actually read Homer's classic, their film, nevertheless, unquestionably pays homage to the Odyssey. This fact should especially interest most of the Earlham community, since the Odyssey has been required reading in the Humanities program for the past several years. Indeed, the general plot of O Brother Where Art Thou? should sound familiar, as should the references to some of most well-known characters in the Odyssey, including the Sirens, the Cyclops, and even the Lotus Eaters. Make no mistake, though, O Brother Where Art Thou? is not merely a remake of the Odyssey; it is an incredibly unique film in its own right, and it certainly bears the hallmark of Joel and Ethan Coen.

The narrative of O Brother Where Art Thou? takes place in Depression-era Mississippi and focuses on three motley convicts as they escape from a prison chain gang. Led by the fast-talking Ulysses Everett McGill—the Coen brothers' counterpart to Homer's Odysseus—the blundering convicts flee from their captors and set out in search of some buried loot that McGill hid before his incarceration. As the three men embark on their odyssey, they repeatedly encounter both peculiar characters and bizarre situations. George Clooney is surprisingly good in his role as the loquacious protagonist, and he is more than able to hold his own amid the rest of the great and colorful cast. Also of note is the film's wonderfully fitting "old-timey" music, which gives O Brother Where Art Thou? an authentic 1930s ambiance. In short, because of its subtle wit, unconventional characters, and overall feel, O Brother Where Art Thou? is an example of true cinematic entertainment, which is exactly what audiences have come to expect from a Coen brothers film.

For more information about O Brother Where Art Thou?, check out the official web site