is a 2000 satirical comedy-drama musical film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.

The film is set in rural Mississippi in 1937, and it follows three escaped convicts searching for hidden treasure while a sheriff relentlessly pursues them.

Its story is a modern satire which, while incorporating social features of the American South, is loosely based on Homer's epic Greek poem The Odyssey.

The film was met with a positive critical reception, and the soundtrack won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002.

[15] The country and folk musicians who were dubbed into the film include John Hartford, Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, Chris Sharp, and Patty Loveless.

[13][16] Three convicts, Pete, Delmar and leader Ulysses Everett McGill, escape from a chain gang to retrieve a buried treasure before the area is flooded to make a lake.

They pick up Tommy Johnson, a young black man who claims he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play guitar.

That night, the trio part ways with Tommy after their car is discovered by the police, and they briefly fall in with outlaw Baby Face Nelson.

Later, one-eyed Bible salesman Big Dan invites them for a picnic lunch, then mugs them and kills the toad.

Pappy O'Daniel, the incumbent candidate, seizes the opportunity, endorses the Soggy Bottom Boys and grants them full pardons.

The next morning, the group sets out to retrieve the ring, which is at a cabin in the valley which Everett had earlier claimed was the location of his treasure.

[22] According to the brothers, Tim Blake Nelson (who has a degree in classics from Brown University)[23][24] was the only person on the set who had read the Odyssey.

who had worked previously with the Coens include John Goodman (three films), Holly Hunter (two), Charles Durning (two) and Michael Badalucco (one).

They wanted it to look like an old hand-tinted picture, with the intensity of colors dictated by the scene and natural skin tones that were all shades of the rainbow.

[28] This was the fifth film collaboration between the Coen Brothers and Deakins, and it was slated to be shot in Mississippi at a time of year when the foliage, grass, trees, and bushes would be a lush green.

[31] After shooting tests, including film bipack and bleach bypass techniques, Deakins suggested digital mastering be used.

[29] Deakins spent 11 weeks fine-tuning the look, mainly targeting the greens, making them a burnt yellow and desaturating the overall image in the digital files.

[14] This made it the first feature film to be entirely color corrected by digital means, narrowly beating Nick Park's Chicken Run.

The work was done in Los Angeles by Cinesite using a Spirit DataCine for scanning at 2K resolution, a Pandora MegaDef to adjust the color, and a Kodak Lightning II recorder to put out to film.

The Ku Klux Klan, at the time a political force of white populism, is depicted burning crosses and engaging in ceremonial dance.

[13] The selection also includes religious music such Primitive Baptist and traditional African American gospel, most notably the Fairfield Four, an a cappella quartet with a career extending back to 1921.

Selected songs in the film reflect the possible spectrum of musical styles typical of the old culture of the American South: gospel, delta blues, country, swing, and bluegrass.

[12] During a cast reunion at the 2020 Nashville Film Festival, George Clooney recalled being called into the recording studio and singing despite his lack of talent.

"[47] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average, gave it a score of 69 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews.

[8] The Soggy Bottom Boys are the fictional musical group that the main characters form as part of the plot; their songs also serve as accompaniment for the film.

It has been suggested that the name is in homage to the Foggy Mountain Boys, a bluegrass band led by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

The band's hit single is Dick Burnett's "Man of Constant Sorrow", a song that had enjoyed much success prior to the movie's release.

[13] They included Ralph Stanley, John Hartford, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Chris Sharp, Stun Seymour, Dan Tyminski and others.