LIFE OF BRIAN (1979)
10pm, Newcomb
Director: Terry Jones
Writers: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Cinematographer: Peter Biziou
Cast: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Running Time: 94 min
The Monty Python troupe struggled with desert heat, reluctant financial backers, and, eventually, the denunciation of various churches, evangelists, and politicians to produce what may be their most consistent and coherent film. Funded by George Harrison after the initial backers withdrew, Life of Brian is not, as its detractors assumed, a blasphemous satire of Jesus Christ and Christianity, but a smart and, of course, achingly funny take on religious belief in general, militant politics, empire, and, most interestingly, the muddled and uncertain origins of what eventually becomes “gospel truth”Â? –all wrapped up in a parody of bloated Biblical epics. Indeed, their North African locations allowed them to use sets and even abandoned costumes from Franco Zeffirelli’s gargantuan television mini-series Jesus of Nazareth. With those unwitting gifts from the very sort of production they were to satirize and a budget from Harrison’s then-new Handmade Films larger than they had enjoyed on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, solo director and historical stickler Terry Jones, production designer Terry Gilliam, and veteran art director Roger Christian create a surprisingly rich and authentic backdrop for the often absurd action.
The story follows poor Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), a Jewish anti-Roman activist mistaken for the Messiah through a series of coincidences (he was, for example, born in the manger next door to that more famous stable) and near-constant misunderstandings and exaggerations by his growing band of followers, who blithely ignore his repeated efforts to clarify his identity. Instead, they craft a religion based on his every off-hand utterance. Everything from his dropped sandal to his increasingly rude pleas to be left alone become fodder for his clueless followers. (Such fanaticism was on the minds of the Pythons in a more serious sense, because the Jonestown Massacre had occurred not long before filming began. They eventually cut all but the final scene involving the “suicide squad”Â? –a crack team whose only mission is to kill themselves for the cause as quickly as possible.) Brian’s mother, Mandy (played by Terry Jones as a loudmouthed shrew) offers little support, and even the beautiful woman (Welsh singer Sue Jones-Davies) whom he follows into the Judean People’s Front (or is it the People’s Front of Judea?) sees him more as a martyr than a person. Inevitably, Brian meets his fate at the decree of Pontius Pilate, played by Michael Palin with a terrible speech impediment (”Wewease Woger!”Â?) and a stubborn inability to see the humorous potential of the name of a certain important friend visiting from Rome. Brian tries to do as much good as possible, but his story does not end happily for him –nor perhaps for anyone offended by a musical crucifixion scene.
Upon its release in the UK, Life of Brian was denounced by religious groups of various stripes, including one Jewish group which complained about, of all things, the shawl John Cleese wears in a stoning scene. The film was also banned by the councils of several British town (some of which had no cinemas within their boundaries). To be fair, this reaction may have had as much to do with some brief frontal nudity as with religious controversy, but also often forgotten is the misconception in Britain that the film was based on a controversial poem about Jesus that had recently appeared in a gay magazine partly funded by Graham Chapman. The film was also banned for eight years in the Republic of Ireland and for a year in Norway (it was marketed in Sweden as “Ëœthe movie that is so funny, it was banned in Norway!‘). The reaction in America was especially strong from both political and religious figures. Of course, many of the detractors never saw the film. Those who did would have noted that the most pointed satire is directed not at religion but at hair-splitting yet ineffective ideologues in left-wing splinter parties.
Both intelligent and silly (familiar Python traits), the film is also warm-hearted (well, just a bit) and provocative. Life of Brian was reissued (marketed as a “Second Coming”Â?) in 2004 to nip at the heels of Mel Gibson’s own retelling of the Christ story, and it again demonstrated its enduring popularity.
