Consider My Servant...

Tonight I forgot the cardinal rule of watching a Coen brothers' movie- one should always maintain a 1:1 beer to hour ratio. In the absence of an appropriate blood alcohol level the higher purpose of A Serious Man eluded me. Until I turned to the next best thing to alcohol-Wikipedia. Apparently this film is loosely based on the book of Job- that biblical gem that calls into question Albert Einstein's assertion that "God does not play dice with the universe." God's famous gamble with Satan in this book may not be as chancy as a craps game but it remains a crappy game of chance. In His infinite wisdom, He allows Satan to strip everything away from Job that Job might be tested.
The test of this Coen brothers' movie is not so much on the main character, Larry Gopnick, but the audience. We watch Larry suffer through the loss of his wife, loss of his home, potential loss of his job, and in the end, the loss of his health, and are left to question why? Not why does this man suffer, but why do we watch it. Knowing that it is based on the story of Job, we might expect redemption in the end. The final scene does not leave one hanging but rather catapults one off of the proverbial cliff. Perhaps the Coens' God is not interested in the 11th hour rescue that the God of the Old Testament exercised time and time again.
Irrespective of this, the movie proves compelling as a train wreck. Will the beleaguered Gopnick grow a spine? Will he throw off the oppression visited on him by the rest of the world? Or will he remain the unremarkable, washed out figure that the pale colors employed by the Coens in every shot indicate that he is? This fascination certainly earns the film its Oscar nods, but my prediction is that the brothers will fail like Job in their quest for the golden gentleman. I predict another Coen quest film to document it. Somebody grab a six pack!