O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

Saturday, September 20 at Dolores Park in San Francisco

Showtime: 8:00 pm

Sponsored by the City of Mill Valley

2000 93 min Buena Vista

Paramount Pictures, Inc. West Coast Studios. Inter-office Communication. Date: May 8, 1941. RE: Sullivan’s Travels – Production 1304. NOTE: In the script of SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, wherever the title “FOR WHOM THE NIGHT FALLS” appears, please change it to “OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?”

In Preston Sturges’ 1941 masterpiece, Sullivan’s Travels, comedy film director John L. Sullivan wants to shed his image as helmsman of such light fare as So Long, Sarong, Hey Hey in the Hayloft, and Ants in Your Plants of 1939 and make a truly artistic, serious document of human suffering:

SULLIVAN: “I want this picture to be a ... document. I want to hold a mirror up to life. I want this to be a picture of dignity ... a true canvas of the suffering of humanity ... I want to make you something outstanding, something you can be proud of, something that would realize the potentialities of film as the sociological and artistic medium that it is ... With a little sex in it.”

Although in Sturges’ original script, that film was to be called For Whom the Night Falls, (obviously a goof on the Hemingway novel that had just come out the year before), eventually it was changed to the even more humorously pompous title, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? Sullivan, realizing he knows nothing about human misery (having grown up a rich kid – like Sturges himself – shielded from the harsh realities of life), sets off with ten cents in his pocket and a bum’s clothes to learn “what trouble is.”

Sullivan’s Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? never gets made, of course. Although the fictitious director finds trouble, and plenty of it, he learns that humor is the antidote to suffering, and that his already-chosen profession of making people laugh is truly what the world needs in troubled times.

Almost sixty years later, however, the Coen Brothers, Ethan and Joel, take up the mantle, with more than a nod to the beloved Preston Sturges, as well as to other film directors, cinematographers and actors (most notably Clark Cable, eerily resurrected in George Clooney’s performance). As Sullivan finds himself attached to a chain gang in the darkest course of his adventures, our three heroes in the Coen Brothers film, Ulysses (Clooney), Pete (John Turturro), and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), manage to escape one in the very first few frames of theirs.

What follows is nothing less than a retelling, in the Depression-era of the American Southland, of Homer’s The Odyssey. Complete with Teiresias on a railcar, the Sirens, a baptism by the Lotus Eaters, and the great John Goodman as a traveling salesman Cyclops (not to mention Holly Hunter as a Penelope who would be so nice to come home to – well, maybe not), the film is a satisfying blend of stunning imagery, hilarious performances, and – towering above all else – that sweet, sweet music.

“Sing in me, O Muse!” The soundtrack of the film features the music of Chris Thomas King (who appears in the film as the trio’s musician traveling companion), and T-Bone Burnett and Carter Burwell, as well as the songs that gave the soundtrack album a sweep at the 2000 Grammy Awards. They include the field recording of the prison song “Po Lazarus,” the authentic vintage performance by Harry McLintock of “Big Rock Candy Mountain” that runs under the opening credits (listen to those great lyrics), and the real Soggy Bottom Boys, featuring Dan Tyminski and Tim Blake Nelson on “Man of Constant Sorrow” and “I’m in the Jailhouse Now” respectively (our three heroes do a pretty good job of lip-synching in the film). Touches of pure sweetness are provided by Alison Krauss in the choral canon “Down in the River to Pray” when we meet the Lotus Eaters. She’s joined by Gillian Welch for “I’ll Fly Away,” and they’re both joined by the great Emmylou Harris for the sexy Sirens’ trio, “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby.” (Look for a cameo by Gillian Welch in the Woolworth store.) The standout is perhaps the greatest, most stirring a cappella solo cut of recent years, Ralph Stanley’s “O Death,” which plays over the Ku Klux Klan meeting. If you’ve seen the film before, or have the album, try closing your eyes during this moment, his voice and those lyrics will shake you to your core. Compare it to another rendition of this striking traditional folk song; it also appears in the film “Songcatcher,” which came out the same year.

By the way, if you do keep your eyes open during the KKK scene (the film’s analogue to Ulysses’ visit to the Underworld), you may notice something oddly familiar about how our three heroes manage to infiltrate the Klan meeting, not to mention the look and sound of the Klan march. Why do you feel like laughing? It’s not your imagination – yes, it’s an homage to The Wizard of Oz.

Most extraordinary is the cinematography by Roger Deakins, who boasts Sid and Nancy, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Dead Man Walking, The Shawshank Redemption, The Big Lebowski, and Fargo, among his 50 or so credits. He also shot Martin Scorcese’s Kundun. O Brother Where Art Thou? was filmed on location in Mississippi, and the cinematography was enhanced digitally by two different companies to create the extraordinary look of the Super-35 wide screen image and create the color palette, 3D digital mattes, and special effects necessary to create a world that is both too real and too mythical. In fact, this was the first Hollywood film ever to be entirely transferred from the original motion picture negative to bits and bytes, digitally colored shot by shot, and then transferred back onto film using high resolution laser technology. The process took several weeks to complete.

One final interesting note in the special effect department: cows do not fare well in this movie. After screening it, the American Humane Association refused at first to let it carry their notice that “No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture.” When the producers explained that the cows were digitally created, the Humane Association demanded proof. The special effects company, Digital Domain, which had manufactured the digital cows, had to demonstrate exactly how the trick was done. A special sentence was then penned to add for the first time to the disclaimer for the end credits of this film: “Scenes that appear to have harmed animals were simulated.”

Who would have thought a remake of The Odyssey would be such a hit? The Coen Brothers, to this day, deny having ever read the epic poem all the way through. They prefer to consider the film’s progenitors Preston Sturges, and Sullivan’s Travels. However you take its signs and symbols, it is anything but a constant sorrow. It is a treat for the eyes and ears.

--Kenn Rabin