I recently watched the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? because I heard good things about it. I also have read "The Historical Film as Real History" by Robert A. Rosenstone in my APUSH class, which talks about how we should analyze historical film in the context of different events and how it addresses the historical eras perennial interpretive issues. I was wondering how OBWAT portrays the New Deal because the was one of the big issues during the Great Depression. For example the movie "The Grapes of Wrath" portrays the New Deal as something good because Tom and his family go to the government run camp and have food, toilets and lots of things they had not had before.
I have not seen the film in over ten years, but I remember a flooding scene, which would obviously indicate a reference to the beginning of the New Deal program Tennessee Valley Authority. TVA was a first term New Deal program to provide many services (including electricity) to parts of the rural South, primarily through the usage of hydroelectricity. The flooding in the film probably referenced the flooding of many rivers in the Tennessee Valley (and beyond) that flooded many river valleys, all of which are still under water presently.
As someone else pointed out the only effects of the New Deal that are seen in the movie are the TVA. Which, actually sets the whole movie up because Clooney's character lies to the others and breaks out because he has to go back home before it's flooded.
The movie deals generally more with the depression. People are worse off and you have this increase of interstate bank robberies, but there aren't any real solutions.