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Life of Brian
Monty Python’s Life of Brian is not a parody of the life of Christ. It is a parody of the life of Christ according to Hollywood. The British comedy troupe is not interesting in mocking religion or Christ, but mocking the clichés that Hollywood has built around such topics in their over-produced Biblical epics. Like such epics, it comes complete with mad crowds, swelling music, overacted prophecies, Roman coliseums, and sanitized crucifixions. REALLY sanitized crucifixions. In fact, I might even argue that Life of Brian is not a parody of Hollywood Biblical epics at all, but rather an exercise in cruel ridicule. A parody has to both poke fun at and demonstrate complete respect for its topic. Mel Brooke’s Young Frankenstein and Roger Moore’s The Cheap Detective come immediately to mind. Life of Brian does not exhibit respect for anything (except, perhaps, for Christ himself). Then again, neither does Monty Python. Monty Python, a six-man comedy act who play almost all of the characters in their films, is known for their absurd, nearly incoherent comedy sketches that they string together for motion pictures and television shows. Such sketches need hardly connect; they must simply be funny and a little unsettling, with a particular emphasis on unsettling. Consider the light-hearted humor surrounding the bloody disembodiment of a knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or the sperm-song in The Meaning of Life. These guys embrace the philosophy that laughter is better when it is quick, absurd, and produces for the viewer as much guilt for laughing as it does laughter. Such an approach has kept them alive over the years, and their films have gained a massive cult following both overseas and in the United States. That said, Life of Brian is the most linear of their works. Whereas their other films were merely unattached scenes of humor, Brian does not deviate from its plotline, and it actually takes the time to develop and follow through with several subplots. I think that this vast departure is the reason why the name Monty Python was left out of the title—it is associated with total chaos and anarchy, and while Brian contains both, it does so only within the boundaries of a fully-developed plot. Such a departure from their typically unconnected scenes actually works to the troupe’s advantage, as it channels its style into one set direction and keeps us from feeling overwhelmed. The team’s material depends upon its complete freshness and spontaneity for it to work. As a result, I do not want to give away any crucial plot points, and I will merely describe the basic premise. Though it is clearly a parody of Hollywood Christ films of the over-stylized, Greatest Story Ever Told-tradition, Christ barely makes an appearance at all, and when he does, he is treated with the utmost dignity and divinity. Rather, Life of Brian concerns itself with Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), the son of a Jewish mother (an outrageously male Terry Jones) and Roman soldier. Brian was born in the stable next door from Christ’s on the same night, and he is at first mistaken for the Messiah by the Wise Man. The misidentification is soon rectified by the three kings, but it is a bad omen: For the rest of Brian’s life, he is constantly mistaken for a messiah and political activist, much to his own chagrin and relentless determination to convince everyone that’s he’s just another oppressed guy living under Roman rule. What follows is basically Brian’s adventures in Jerusalem as he lives a life completely different from that of the Divine carpenter’s from Nazareth, even though Brian’s followers insist in drawing comparisons. Monty Python uses this parallel story to spit profusely on the Hollywood gospels. From the obviously fake sets, the ridiculous costumes, and the bad special effects to the overacting, the historical liberties, and the not-so-large mobs, poor Brian’s life becomes a hilarious send-up of all that is absurd about DeMille-era Biblical epics. The success of Life of Brian, as in all of Monty Python’s films, hangs on in the variety of the jokes and how quick they hit us. The laughs in Life of Brian are almost nonstop, and most of the gags work tremendously. Along the way, the team also manages to develop a fairly engaging plotline that hilariously sticks its tongue out at many other Biblical-film clichés. I won’t gives these clichés away, but I will say that they include topics that range from ex-lepers, vows of silence, Roman politics, a nosebleed section at the Sermon on the Mount, and stonings. And did I mention extremely sanitized crucifixions? AKA: Monty Python's Life
of Brian Cast: A Handmade Films production.
Directed by Terry Gilliam. Written by Monty Python (all of the
above). Rated R, for language and brief nudity. Running time:
90 minutes. Original United States theatrical release date: August
17, 1979.
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