"Oh, no. No, sir. He's white. As white as you folks. With empty eyes and a big, hollow voice. He loved to travel around with a mean old hound. That's right." (19:24)
This is, of course, Tommy's description of the Devil, whom he "sold his soul to at the crossroads to learn to play the guitar real well." I had viewed this film many times before I fully paid attention to this line, but, once I did, I realized who Tommy was describing. This statement perfectly describes Sheriff Cooley, the man in pursuit of our protagonists throughout the film. As soon as I realized this, I picked up on the overall story of this film.
On the surface, O, Brother is about three men in pursuit of treasure. However, I view the inclusion of Tommy's description of Sheriff Cooley adds a much deeper level to the story. Overall, it is about good versus evil. At the beginning of the film, Pete and Delmar accept the Lord into their hearts, but Everett is still "unaffiliated," as he describes it. Because of Everett's lack of faith, there is still room for the Devil to claim there souls. Their lack of unity in their faith makes them an easy target for Satan, a.k.a. the Sheriff. At the end of the film, during their final confrontation with him, Everett finally lets the Lord into his heart, right as the flood waters arrive and kill everyone around them. These three men serve as a metaphor for the entire human race. It's not so much about religion as it is just about the general forces of good and evil. Religion is just the way the Coen Brothers get their message across. As long as there is still room for evil within the human race, then, no matter how much good there is, evil can still prevail.
This is actually a common theme in many of the films from the Coen Brothers, my personal favorite filmmakers! In Raising Arizona, it's Hi McDunnough versus Leonard Smalls, "the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse." In The Hudsucker Proxy, it's Norville Barnes versus Sidney J. Mussberger (as well as a physical confrontation between an angel and a demon). In The Ladykillers, it's Marva Munson versus Professor G.H. Dorr. There is always a good, innocent person who must go up against a personification of evil. Whom better to play that in O, Brother, a film set in the rural South during the Depression, than a Sheriff? The law was always seen as one of the most racist forces during these times, and so a sheriff seems like the perfect person to represent evil. Also, I should note that the films I have mentioned here are comedies. In all of them, good has triumphed over evil. However, the Coens have also made some darker, more serious films which also contain personifications of evil, such as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men. The outcome was not so positive in that film, and it is always a lot murkier in their more serious fare.
QUESTION: Tommy said that he sold his soul to the Devil, so he has already willingly turned to evil. Yet, at the end of the film, he is "allowed" to live? Why do you think this is?
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