O Brother, Where Art Thou? (5 Stars)

This is a film that I can vaguely remember seeing on television in my pre-blog days. What I didn't remember is how good it is. It's set in Mississippi in the time of America's Great Depression. Three convicts escape from a chain gang, and they have to hurry to retrieve the money that was buried from a bank heist, $1.2 million. To put it into perspective, that would be worth $22 million today. They only have four days to get the money, because the area is due to be flooded to make a new lake. Their journey by hitching rides and stealing cars leads them from one mishap to another.

When I sat down to write this review I intended to describe the plot in full, but it's impossible. So much happens in the story. The incidents in this road movie are a mix of comedy and drama. We can't help but feel affection for the three criminals. The film is loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, one of the world's oldest poems. Very loosely. People appear who are immediately recognisable to anyone who's read the Odyssey, but no attempt is made to flesh out or explain them.

The film is directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. They're a phenomenon in filmmaking who worked together from 1984 to 2018. Since then their ways have parted, and their solo films aren't up to the quality of their joint efforts.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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