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 Life of Brian
(1979)
Director:
Terry Gilliam
Stars: Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Release Company:
The Criterion Collection
MPAA Rating: R
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Monty Python - Ministry Of Silly Walks
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Always look on the bright side of life...
If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten!
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing,
It's now hard to imagine the furor that surrounded the 1979 release of the Python's Life of Brian, a film that ends with such a positive finishing song. But until Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ was released in 1988, no film received the ferocity or amount of protests by religious groups as the Pythons did. Of course most of the protesters never saw the film—they had only heard rumors.
If you fear that the film may be blasphemous, take courage and check Life of Brian out. The Pythons are not bashing Christianity here, but they unmercifully take on the silly things that man has done with organized religion. If some groups perceive the film as a threat, perhaps their faith is shallow and is challenged by the amount of historically accurate material the Pythons have included in their comedy. Fortunately, former Beatle George Harrison stepped in and financed the film after EMI backed out due to the controversy brewing about the project.
Brian is meant to parallel the life of Christ only in the fact that he lives at the same time and period as Christ. The parallels happen only due to the acts of others, as in the opening sequence that shows the three wise men approaching the wrong manger after following the star of Bethlehem. Some of the film's funniest moments occur after the wise men shock Brian's mother, Mandy:
Mandy: What star sign is he?
WM2: Capricorn.
Mandy: Capricorn eh, what are they like?
WM2: He is the Son of God, our Messiah.
WM1: King of the Jews.
Mandy: And that's Capricorn, is it?
WM3: No, no, that's just him.
Mandy: Oh, I was going to say, otherwise there'd be a lot of them.
After the wise men discover their mistake and take back their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (what the heck is myrrh, anyway) to give to the proper Christ child, we go through Terry Gilliam's hilarious cartoon credits sung to "A Boy Named Brian," landing thirty years later at Christ's Sermon on the Mount. We are at the back of the crowd where it's difficult to hear what Christ is saying:
Man: I think it was "Blessed are the Cheesemakers."
Wife: What's so special about the cheesemakers?
Gregory: It's not meant to be taken literally. Obviously it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.
As in all Python material, much of it works like scatter shot skits within the overall film. Even though Life of Brian is more unified than other Python films, some scenes work much better than others. The Pythons' research pays off with a great stoning scene, as the women (actually men masquerading as women who in turn pretend to be men—and if this is confusing, you haven't seen enough Python) buy fake beards from vendor and can choose from 2 pointed or 3 pointed stones and bags of gravel for the stoning.
Politics is always a ready mark for spoofing, and the Pythons take on the various splinter groups that exist in the Holy Land with a number of scenes with the black robed Judean People's Front, not to be confused with the People's Front of Judea. One early scene has the JPF being supremely politically correct about sexism:
Stan: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
Reg: But you can't have babies.
Stan: Don't you oppress me.
Reg: I'm not oppressing you, Stan -- you haven't got a womb. Where's the fetus going to gestate? You going to keep it in a box?
(Stan starts crying.)
Judith: Here! I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb, which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans', but that he can have the *right* to have babies.
Francis: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother. Sister, sorry.
Later, the JPF meets and begins bashing the hated Romans. Even that serves as fodder for Python humor, who now spoof the generic non-thinking cliches that most people come up with. Here's a brief excerpt from a meeting where the leader is attempting to rally hatred for the Romans:
Reg: All right ... all right ... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order ... what HAVE the Romans done for us?
Xerxes: Brought peace!
Reg: (very angry, he's not having a good meeting at all) What!? Oh ... (scornfully) Peace, yes ... shut up!
So after running a gauntlet of political humor, sight gags like picking up bloody arms from the Children’s Matinee at the Coliseum, the Roman general (John Cleese) giving a Latin lesson to a graffiti writing Brian (Graham Chapman), a lisping Pontius Pilate who doesn't see the humor in the name “Biggus Dickus” and other uneven scenes we arrive at the point where Brian is mistaken for a Messiah. No matter what Brian says or does, he's stuck with these followers now and we end at the trickiest scene of all for the Pythons to pull off.
How do you spoof the crucifixion respectfully? Those familiar with history will understand that this was a common practice for those times, and the Pythons end with one of their most well known songs:
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle -- that's the thing!
And... always look on the bright side of life...
While not as highly regarded as the more popular Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this film definitely has its moments. Treading near religious subjects always evokes controversy, but the meticulous attention to detail and intelligence of Life of Brian shines through. As zany as the Pythons may seem, nothing here is done haphazardly. The troop does not improvise. Their skits are meticulously researched, discussed, and re-written before they are finally scripted. Most often Michael Pallin and Terry Gilliam collaborate together while John Cleese and Graham Chapman work together on material while Eric Idle works more independently, but they all discuss their ideas jointly before anything will be put to film. It’s no surprise that the strongest parts of any Python film will be in the comedy writing itself.
Filming on location can often be difficult, as was the continually cold and rainy locations the Pythons used for the Holy Grail. In this case, the Pythons were able to take advantage of the Tunisian sets that Franco Zeffirelli had left behind for his Jesus of Nazareth epic just two years before. They couldn't have afforded to build these sets with their more limited resources, so the film often does achieve a rich and darker look in many scenes. Other times it may look a bit washed out, but the largely hand held cameras do quite well.
Life of Brian is vastly underestimated. Although it lacks the lunacy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, it contains some excellent scenes and much more intelligent humor than any National Lampoon or Jim Carrey film. As with any comedy piece, some will "get it" and others will simply stare and shake their heads in disbelief or disgust. One footnote: if you are offended by Graham Chapman's full frontal nude scene (enhanced with rubber band to make him appear Jewish), think how this shocked the traditional Muslim women who served as extras!
It's difficult to see any blasphemy in Life of Brian. It spoofs human nature more than anything, notably the gullibility of people who behave as sheep and follow others blindly. The Pythons expect to challenge and their special brand of humor is often favored by geeks and thinking people. If you're a sheep ... Well, I don't know many people who admit to being a sheep, but even if you are, it's not so bad. You can still rent the video (actually, the DVD is far superior with loads of great extras) and join in with that final song from the film:
For life is quite absurd,
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow!
Forget about your sin—give the audience a grin,
Enjoy it—it's the last chance anyhow!
So always look on the bright side of death!
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
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