The single most quoted film ever is surely the Life of Brian. For every "
Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" and "
I coulda been a contender" that gets flung out there's a multitude of quotes from Python's masterpiece which we all know and love. I'd argue it's possible to say a random joke from this film to a person you've just met in the pub and have them say the following line. It's part of our national psyche. If you were too young to watch it first time round no doubt your dad, older brother, uncle or whoever informed you of it's genius and passed it onto you. In that way it has a lot in common with the other banned films I've spoke of. They were hard to get a hold of and it got passed down to you. This was never hard to get a hold of but it's just as much a part of growing up to a lot of people as being taken to your first football game, getting handed your first drink or the first time you're asked to be the first footer after the bells. That day when someone older than you, who had taken you under their wing in order to mould you into something resembling a decent human being realised you were old enough and wise enough to "get" the humour in this film. It's a treasure, a symbol of all that is good within comedy and cinema at large, and as important to us all as most films we will ever see.
But some people are stupid and despise this film. Well, most people are actually but, when it comes to Python, there's a universal acceptance of it's brilliance. To misinterpret that is a crime of such epic proportions they need to be mocked.
December 25th, 0AD (or would it be 1BC or 0BC.... or just 0?) and Jesus Christ is being born in a wee stable. Three Wise Men are bringing gifts but go into the wrong stable where Brian is being born. So begins the film.
Brian grows up, he even goes to hear Jesus "live" with his mum, and continues his life. As is common with a lot of young men he gets involved in politics and, as is common with most young men who get involved with politics, he does it to get laid. He gets into a pickle and a series of unfortunate, but hilarious, events lead people to believing he is the Messiah.
Sounds a bit like Jesus I suppose but this film goes to great pains to point out he is not Jesus. Just a guy who lived down the street for him. Stupid people do not realise this. Stupid people would rather watch ITV sitcoms.
So why would Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and John Cleese want to make this film. Aside from the epic lulz it all seemed to start out as a joke.
After making
The Holy Grail they were constantly being asked about their next movie project, which they had no even begun to contemplate, and, frustrated at these same questions over and over, Eric Idle made a flippant comment about the next film being called "
Jesus Christ: Lust For Glory". The idea appealed but, after looking at the gospels, realised Jesus wasn't that funny a guy. In fact, let's face it, he was a pretty decent guy. Looking at him as a human being from an atheist point of view if you take away the whole "I'm the son of God" arrogant streak then everything he said is a good way to live your life by.
Onto idea #2 about the thirteenth disciple who everyone forgets about. This was quickly ditched for the
Brian we know about now and the film was made thanks to George Harrison.
Some people, however, believe that daring to suggest that other people lived and died at the same time as Jesus Christ, that other people were crucified, that there were other people who had followers in 1st century Judea is blasphemy. The only blasphemy this film creates is when idiots don't think it's funny.
I can't begin to imagine how anyone would find any part of this film blasphemous so I shall Google it to find out.
Heresy 1: The depictions of Christ
Christ is depicted in this film twice. Firstly as a child born in a stable. This is what we see every Christmas at nativity. So if Brian is blasphemous so is every five year old in the country. At least in
Life of Brian Mary doesn't wave to her mum and the shepherds don't cry when they forget what to say. I suppose the Wise Men getting the wrong house might annoy a few but nowhere in the bible does it mention these fellas being infallible. Only God is. As they are using a fairly bright star to navigate and not SatNav then the general area of interest could be a large one. Getting next door is a shit hot piece of navigation as far as I can tell.
The second depiction is his sermon on the mount which is delivered in a straight manner, and is word for word what we might read in the King James. The comedy from the scene is from people mis-hearing Islam's number two prophet. Again the bible tells us some people at the time disagreed with Jesus and what he said (Reg: "What Jesus Christ fails to realise is that the meek are the cause of the problem") and, again, this was before PA systems were invented. Jesus is never given any short shrift from the Python team and is the only character in the entire film to be portrayed without any fun being poked at him.
Heresy 2: The crucifixion
Jesus Christ, and his disciples, were not the only people to ever be crucified. Crucifixation was used as a deterrent for all sorts of crimes in many parts of the world at the time but in Rome, and it's empire, was used mainly for political crimes to combat any form of subversion or uprising. Not only was it an excruciating death but could take days and was very visible to all. People could die within moments from the shock, hours through suffocation or days through fatigue or even longer through thirst. Not all crucifictions were on the t-shape we associate with Jesus Christ but on plain long poles, x-shaped crosses and many other different ways. Some were hung upside down, some were tied to the cross, others nailed to it and, for an even quicker death, knees and legs were broken. For a longer death, seats and foot rests were fitted. Christ knows how sore that shit must have been.
However it's not Brian being crucified that gets up some people's backs. It's the way Eric Idle's character laughs throughout it. How it's a bit of a jape. It's described as a doddle. To a Roman Catholic, for instance, Christ's pain and suffering were because of our sins and he endured such horrors for our benefit and, to be fair, referring to it as a "doddle" could besmirch his memory. It's a decent point but that's when it is taken out of context. In the context of the film crucifixion is seen as a horrible death by most and the ones who disagree are seen as strange. The way people see spending days in the baking sun gasping for air and food and water as a lark is mocked and we are left in no doubt, even within a comedy, that it's not, exactly, fun.
Heresy 3: It mocks religion as a whole
Well of course it fucking does and, what's more, it wont be the last. At no point have I ever seen a film that mocks people for having beliefs or, even, the beliefs they have. It does go out of it's way to mock the organised belief in a religion. To mock the infighting between different people who follow the same gods and prophets. To go back to
Heresy 1 it's the bickering of people too interested in their own problems that do not hear Christ's message properly who begin to argue and fight during his sermon.
Some idiot would usually use this point to say that Brian's greatest achievement is taking serious views about the absurdity of religious dogma, or politicians using it for their own gain, of people's desperate need to follow others and dozens of other pieces of the puzzle Python threw together underneath a non-stop current of guffaws and not even making us realise how subservient it is as we chuckle away.
Dogma, by Kevin Smith, needs little speeches by a black apostle, a latino muse with no vagina, two angels who everyone thinks are going out or an ex-skateboarding Scientologist playing a devil to put across this very same message. The Python's manage this by putting Terry Jones in a beard, by giving Michael Palin a lisp and making John Cleese look angry. It's not as obvious, you might not even realise it's happening, but real genius should often go unnoticed.
Some idiot would say that was Brian's greatest achievement. They'd be wrong. It's greatest achievement is making us laugh.
