200px-LifeofbrianfilmposterIn this video (officially sponsored by Monty Python on youtube, btw – Python FTW!), the end song from the under-appreciated classic film “The Life of Brian” is sung by…well..watch the video and then read on.

The history of the movie “The Life of Brian” is, like certain other Python-related projects (I’m thinking of Terry Gilliam’s classic film “Brazil” in particular), long and interesting. Here is a condensed version, based on my very own shoddy internet research and personal, conspiracy-oriented conjecture:

Monty Python’s Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team. It tells the story of Brian Cohen (played by Graham Chapman), a young Jewish man who is born in the same era and location as Jesus Christ and subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.

The film contains themes of religious satire which were controversial at the time of its release, drawing accusations of blasphemy and protests from some religious groups. Some UK towns and some countries banned its showing, with a few of these bans lasting decades. It also contains elements of political satire targeted at far-left groups.

So there’s something sure to offend each viewer’s sensibilities in this classic farce. And offend it did.

YouTube Preview Image

Here is what my 30-second skimming of an article on some web site found as far as controversy:

In the UK, Mary Whitehouse and other campaigners launched waves of leaflets and picketed at and around cinemas that showed the film, a move that was only felt to have ironically boosted the publicity.

Leaflets arguing against the film’s representation of the New Testament (for example, suggesting that the Wise Men would not have approached the wrong stable as they do in the opening of the film) were documented in Robert Hewison’s book Monty Python: The Case Against.

One of the most controversial scenes was the film’s ending: Brian’s crucifixion. Many Christian protesters said that it was mocking Jesus’s suffering by turning it into a “Jolly Boys Outing” (such as when Mr Cheeky turns to Brian and says: “See, It’s not so bad when you get up here”), capped by Brian’s fellow sufferers suddenly bursting into song; director Terry Jones issued the following riposte to this criticism: “Any religion that makes a form of torture into an icon that they worship seems to me a pretty sick sort of religion quite honestly”.

Another argument was that crucifixion was a standard form of execution in ancient times and not just one especially reserved for Jesus.  The Pythons often prided themselves on the depths of the historical research they had taken before writing the script. They all believe that, as a consequence, the film portrays 1st century Judea more accurately than actual Biblical epics, with its focus centred more on the average person of the era.

Food for thought if you take the time to read through it. Mary Whitehouse’s name may ring a bell to you Pink Floyd fans (you know who you are – put the bong down and read this). Whitehouse was savagely (and yet humourusly) taken to task by Roger Waters in the Pink Floyd song Pigs from the Animals LP.

The Pythons unanimously deny that they were ever out to destroy people’s faiths. On the DVD audio commentary, they contend that the film is heretical because it lampoons the practices of modern organised religion, but that it does not blasphemously lampoon the God that Christians and Jews worship.

When Jesus does appear in the film (first, as a baby in the stable, and then later on the Mount, speaking the Beatitudes), he is played straight (by actor Kenneth Colley) and portrayed with respect. The music and lighting make it clear that there is a genuine aura around him on both occasions. The comedy begins when members of the crowd mishear his statements of peace, love and tolerance (“I think he said, ‘blessed are the cheese makers’”).

Importantly, he is distinct from the character of Brian, which is also evident in the scene where an annoying and ungrateful ex-leper pesters Brian for money, while moaning that since Jesus cured him, he has lost his source of income in the begging trade (referring to Jesus as a “bloody do-gooder”).

Occasionally forgotten amongst the blasphemy accusations, the film also significantly pokes fun at left-wing revolutionary groups.

The groups in the film are all opposing the Roman occupation of Judea, but fall into the familiar pattern of intense competition among factions that appears, to an outsider, to be over ideological distinctions so small as to be invisible, “ideological purity”, as Cleese once referred to it. The ‘People’s Front of Judea’ harangue their ‘rivals’ with cries of “splitters”; their rivals being The ‘Judean People’s Front’, the ‘Judean Popular People’s Front’ the ‘Campaign for a Free Galilee,’ and the ‘Popular Front of Judea’. The infighting among revolutionary organizations is demonstrated most dramatically when the ‘People’s Front of Judea’ attempts to kidnap Pontius Pilate’s wife, but encounters agents of the ‘Campaign for a Free Galilee,’ and the two factions begin a violent brawl over which of them conceived of the plan first. When Brian exhorts them to cease their fighting in order to struggle “against the common enemy,” the revolutionaries stop and cry in unison, “the Judean People’s Front!” However, they soon resume their fighting and, with two Roman legionnaires watching bemusedly, continue until Brian is left the only survivor, at which point he is captured.

Somehow the little comedy troupe that made up Monty Python’s Flying Circus soldiered on and produced other funny crap. Their history includes:

  • And Now For Something Completely Different (1971)
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
  • Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
  • Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
  • Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983)
  • The Secret Policeman’s Ball benefit shows
  • Time Bandits
  • A Fish Called Wanda
  • Ripping Yarns (perhaps Michael Palin’s best work before he married Sarah)
  • Third Rock from the Sun
  • Meet the Rutles
  • Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python
  • Monty Python’s Personal Best
  • Monty Python’s Spamalot
  • Monty Python’s Big Red Book
  • The Brand New Monty Python Bok
  • Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979
  • The Pythons: Autobiography by the Pythons
  • And Now For Something Completely Digital

and many other moments of laughter and joy in life.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]