MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN (1979)    (15)

*****

Sacrilegious? Not really. If you go in with the mindset that you will be offended, then yes, you will be. But the Life of Brian doesn't deal with the life of Jesus or Christianity in any form. The main targets of Life of Brian (in my opinion) is the cults who will believe anything, various terrorist groups who do nothing but hate, and also the many forms of bureaucracy that hamstring many organisations.

The Peoples Front of Judea is a wonderful example of an organisation that won't do anything unless it has been seconded, put to the vote and then discussed and passed by the committee (it is really scary how much this sounds like the department where I work). When Brian is captured, and crucified by the Romans at the end, Judith (Sue Jones Davies) gets the PFJ asks them to take immediate action to rescue Brian, and they all sit down in committee to discuss it.

Simply put, the Life of Brian tells the tale of the life of Brian Cohen, a Jew who is born in the stable next to Jesus. Brian's life parallels the life of Jesus but only crosses it once when he and his mother - a superb turn by Terry Jones - attend the Sermon on the Mount. Tired of the Romans rule, he joins the PFJ (one of many terrorist groups who do nothing but hate the Romans) and immediately takes action by daubing a wall with graffiti ("Romani ite domum" - Romans go home). Again, this isn't without its humour when a Roman Centurion catches Brian in the act, and instead of arresting him as you would expect, he proceeds to correct his Latin grammar, and makes him write it out 100 times. He is then captured and crucified before being told to "Always look on the bright side of life".

Typically for Monty Python, the humour appeals to different people - I have watched this with family, mates and a girlfriend, and none of us laughed at precisely the same time. Laugh we all do yes, but we each appreciate small differences in the style of humour. I've talked about this with people from several churches, and I can't recall anyone thinking that the movie was blasphemous.

One of my all-time favourite sequences is the balcony scene with Brian and his mom. A crowd have gathered underneath Brian's window and they chant his name. His mom open's the curtains and says "He's not he Messiah, he's a very naughty boy". Brian then appears and tells everyone that they have the right to individuality: "You have to be different! The Crowd: Yes, we are all different! Small lonely voice: I'm not!" I just love the way that there is one person who dares not to follow the herd.