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RETROSPECTIVE
Monty Python's The Life of Brian
Starring:
Monty Python Cast, Kenneth Colley,
Graham Chapman, Gwen Taylor, Terence Bayler
Directed by:
Terry Jones
Produced by:
John Goldstone
Written By:
Graham Chapman, Terry Jones,
John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin
Distributed By: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. |
Ironic that only twenty-five
years ago, Monty Python’s the Life of Brian caused the same
uproar that The Passion of the Christ currently is. While the two
films may seem hard to compare, there are actually only two main
differences between them. Firstly, opposite sides of the religious
spectrum seem to be offended by each (for no reason at all). The Jewish
community has denounced The Passion, calling it anti-Semitic,
whereas the Christian church called The Life of Brian
blasphemous, back in 1979. Things have seemed to mellow out since then;
after being banned in several countries that were influenced by the
religion that was being “attacked,” everyone actually realized the true
humor in this film. The silly crucifixion scenes can now be respected by
anyone with an open mind, instead of only those of religions who choose
to believe that Jesus Christ was not the son of God. There have been no
edits made in The Life of Brian since the original release, but
now that the majority of churches are willing to merely accept it,
everyone can feel okay when giggling at its contents. People haven’t
become any less sensitive; they’ve just come to understand that the
material represents only a light-hearted extravaganza, equipped with the
usual Monty Python ingeniousness, of course.
There are some underlying
themes in The Life of Brian regarding the absurdities of
organized religion, but I choose not to be greatly impacted by them.
Every time I watch it, I constrain myself to only thinking of it as a
comedy, because whatever intellectual meaning it may bear only detracts
from the jokes. As a whole, upon reflection, I can appreciate it for
everything deeper than surface-value it possesses, but will not remember
these traits over the more apparent ones. The most memorable aspect of
it is the one-liners, which are truly zingy, and perfectly deliver. The
Pythons have wondrous abilities in the production of all sorts of humor,
particularly satire and slapstick, which will doubtfully ever be done by
other comedians as well as them, anytime soon.
The movie opens to the three
wise men accidentally giving a newborn baby, named Brian, the gifts of
gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Afterwards, realizing they made a mistake
in not giving them to the Baby Jesus, who lives across the street, they
steal the gifts back from Brian’s obnoxious mother, and give them to
their rightful owner. Flash forward many years; Brian (Graham Chapman)
is now much older. With much angst against the Romans, he joins the
Peoples Front of Judea (do not mistake this for the Judean People’s
Front). After practicing in illegal behavior in attempts to lead the
downfall of the Romans, he is trailed by police officers, as well as a
group of his followers, who have mistaken him to be the blessed Messiah.
However, there’s no escaping the wrath of Pontius Pilot, who sentences
him to crucifixion. Brian, just like Jesus, must make his way onto a
cross on a fateful day.
Director Terry Jones deserves a
lot more credit than he’s received over the years; his work is some of
the most crucial to the film. Hiding small bits of hilariousness in each
frame of video and focusing in on the perfect portions of each scene, he
is in his finest form. The director is, in a sense, more influential to
the quality of a comedy than the actors in it or the screenplay of it.
Many of the films in this genre are only funny because they’re packaged
nicely; the control those behind the camera have over the inclusion of
humorous segments in a picture is extraordinary. Luckily, Monty
Python’s the Life of Brian is provided with all three of these
elements; it’s witty, well-made, and perfectly acted.
The main difference between
Monty Python’s the Life of Brian and any other piece of religious
commentary is the influence of malice towards religion in context. Here,
the tone is so fun and delightful, it’s impossible to think that the
Python’s believe Christianity to be an evil force of sorts. Only those
in extreme denial will have a hard time laughing at it, regardless of
whether it’s their first viewing or their fifth.
Make no mistake, I do not think
it’s a classic film; if I was forced to rate it, I’d most likely give it
three-and-a-half buckets. But, from a historical perspective, it has
been far more significant than movies of slightly higher qualities.
This, alone, leaves me with enough of a reason to respect and cherish it
for ages.
The Life of Brian is
currently being distributed in a limited re-release, to celebrate the
twenty-fifth anniversary, in response to the success of (surprise)
The Passion of the Christ. However, my comparisons do not seem to do
either film justice; they’re both amazing experiences, opinionated in
their executions. If it plays at a theatre near you, definitely take
advantage of seeing it on a big screen. I own the DVD, and just recently
watched it less than a week ago, but I still would be more than elated
to buy a ticket to it at my local one-screener in the near future,
today. It’s hard to deny that this was, and still is, a wonderful,
hysterical, and landmark motion picture in the world of cinema.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
