'He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy'
Life of Brian 9.1
As with Holy Grail, the absurdity starts straight away and doesn't let up for 90 minutes. We roughly know about this period in history from folklore, and it's normally treated so solemnly that it's a joy to see a film taking the piss out of it entirely, all the while asking a serious question about whether it should ever be taken seriously.
Storywise - we see 33 year old Brian trying to find his place in the world, joining an activist society and inadvertently becoming a spiritual icon to the public of Judea. But it's more than just a simple spoof of the bible stories, (or biblical epic films) there are lots of lessons to be found, mostly around the way people believe what they want to believe e.g. when it comes to Brian, his followers want to believe he is divine, so they find (invent) evidence for it.
The Python boys use their old tricks of exaggerating all the jokes for effect, nothing is out of bounds, (there's even a space ship dogfight) and they use authentic costumes but mostly talk in their normal voices, like they're down the market (which they are in one scene) but because they don't make a point if it, you may not even realise straight away.
I love how this encourages people to laugh at religion and doesn't pander to, or shy away from, the countless religious fanatics that were bound to find this hugely offensive. It was massively controversial at the time, but crucially it doesn't actually take the mick out of Christ directly, it's just a parallel story of a nobody sharing many aspects with the Jesus story. It’s a much more risky move than satirising King Arthur and Camelot, and it pays off just as much.
The whole film is full of themes which have since proven to be timeless, many are present in the PFJ scene 20 minutes in. Stan from the PFJ wants to be a woman to have babies, which is impossible, but they agree to fight for his right to have babies, even though there's no point. That kind of blind equality thinking is very current these days. Also there are many organisations all doing the same thing, yet in strong competition. Plus they're resistant to new cultures like the roman food and they talk and talk without ever doing anything. Maybe the main theme is the Jews v. Romans civil strife, even though they kind of need eachother. All of the above can be found in abundance in the world of 2022, this may be a happy accident but either way I hope it will keep this film's hugely influential, classic status going for decades to come.
There's a great moment on the crosses at the end where they all say 'I'm Brain', which is taken from the Kubrick film Spartacus, set in a similar history period. And then we have the birth of a universally recognisable song, 'Always look on the bright side of life'. When I was younger I always thought they just used it but actually it was written by Eric Idle (the one singing it) for the film. The Python crew wrote numerous songs over the years, there are other decent ones but this is by far the most known.
As with Holy Grail, it would be easy to underestimate the genius and ambition of this, the writing especially. The style of dialogue is so insanely simple yet original. Just in the first few minutes there is a conversation about Jesus which sounds like it could be about Boris Johnson in any Pub, the guy selling stones and gravel, John Cleese at the stoning acting like a teacher... It all comes across a but like dialogue in a Tarantino or Kevin Smith film, as in characters talk about anything and everything, just like in real life, and it's not all about driving the story forward. In the Monty Python case they are talking 'nonsense' but almost everything adds to the tone of the film's endless satirical throughline. And of course the delivery across the board is about perfect. There is so much energy in all of the performances and the film overall.
There are so many highlights for me; what have the Romans ever done for us?, Biggus Dickus, the stoning, the PFJ, haggling etc. All of these are memorable and quotable to the max, so watching this for the umpteenth time as i did, is like singing along to a classic tune. It is important to acknowledge this is actually really well made.. the feel of the authentic sets (they were the sets of an acclaimed mini series called Jesus of Nazareth by Franco Zeffirelli - director of the wonderful 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet) and the very good sound design combined with the quotable dialogue makes it one of those films that is endlessly rewatchable. I will watch it at least once a year and it always goes down a real treat. I marginally prefer this to Holy Grail, probably just because of the religious satire which I always enjoy.
Everyone should see the Monty Python films, I know some people disregard them as just silly slapstick like countless mediocre comedies, but for me they are the height of intelligent comedy cleverly dressed up as silliness. It doesn't matter if you're interested in King Arthur or the Bible, if you're interested in laughing, they are both a must.
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