Best Movie of the Decade: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Hands down, O Brother, Where Art Thou? wins my pick as the best movie of the first decade of the 21st Century.
A Coen Brothers masterpiece that took the epic legends of Homer’s Odyssey and draped them in the threadbare rags of Depression Era America, O Brother is a movie that I never tire of watching. If I happen upon it while channel surfing, I’ll stop a while as if meeting with an old friend.
Before O Brother, I didn’t really care much about George Clooney or his acting ability. After this movie, I started paying more attention to his work. It’s safe to say that because of O Brother, I looked forward to seeing him in The Men Who Stare at Goats and Up in the Air.
The music in the movie also helped set it apart – and above – every other movie during the decade. The blues, bluegrass, and deep-fried country tunes colored O Brother as much as any lens.
It dealt with racism, broken families, crime and punishment, political ambition, and the desire for stardom and celebrity. And it had one-eyed John Goodman beating the snot out of people with a tree limb.
So, as much as I enjoyed the spectacular Lord of the Rings trilogy, I have to give credit where it’s due: O Brother told an epic tale of fellowship, right down to the hunt for a lost ring, in a third of the time and with much fewer special effects or silly elf action sequences.
