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Monty Python's Life of Brian

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Life of Brian
File:Lifeofbrian.jpg
Directed byTerry Jones
Written byGraham Chapman,
John Cleese,
Terry Gilliam,
Eric Idle,
Terry Jones,
Michael Palin
Produced byJohn Goldstone
StarringGraham Chapman,
John Cleese,
Terry Gilliam,
Eric Idle,
Terry Jones,
Michael Palin
Music byGeoffrey Burgon
Distributed byWarner Bros./
Orion Pictures Corporation (USA)
Handmade Films (UK)
Release date
1979
Running time
94 mins
LanguageEnglish

Monty Python's Life Of Brian is a 1979 comedy by Monty Python, which deals with the life of Brian Cohen (played by Graham Chapman), a young man born on the same night and the same street as Jesus Christ.

The film was controversial due to its combination of comedy with religious themes. However it has also been very popular with viewers: in 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the greatest comedy film of all time; in 2004, the same magazine named it the 5th greatest British film of all time; in 2006 it was voted the best comedy movie of all time on two separate polls conducted by the British TV channels Channel 4 and Five; an on the Internet Movie Database, the film is consistently ranked among the top 100 films of all time.

Synopsis

Template:Spoilers

Brian (Graham Chapman) is born in the stable a few doors down from the one in which Jesus was born (a fact which initially confuses the three wise men who come to praise Him, as they must put up with Brian's boorish mother Mandy until they realize their mistake). Brian grows up to be an idealistic young man who resents the continuing Roman occupation of Judea. While attending Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, he becomes infatuated with an attractive young rebel, who persuades him to join one of the many factious and bickering separatist movements plotting to strike at the Roman occupiers. His first assignment as a rebel is an attempt at scrawling some graffiti ("Romanes eunt domus") on the wall of the governor's palace. This succeeds beyond his wildest dreams when he is caught by a passing Roman guard who, in disgust at Brian's improper Latin grammar, forces him to write out the 'corrected' message ("Romani ite domum") one hundred times – also on the governor's palace wall.

Unfortunately, a series of coincidences resulting from a failed raid on the palace, and culminating with some meaningless babble Brian recites as an attempt to avoid the Roman guards, leads a small army of people to come to regard Brian as the Messiah. Despite his best efforts to convince people that this isn't the case, and his attempts to use his influence to get people to embrace their individuality and not rely on authority figures (advice which is merely parrotted back at him, reverentially), he is arrested, sentenced to death, crucified, and abandoned by anyone who could possibly help him. Still, by the closing credits, he is persuaded to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

Production

The film would not have been made without George Harrison, who set up Handmade Films to help fund it, after the subject matter scared off the original backers, EMI Films.[citation needed] Harrison appears in a cameo role but his voice is dubbed by Michael Palin..

There is also a cameo appearance by Spike Milligan (who happened to be on holiday in Tunisia where the filming was taking place [citation needed]) as a prophet ignored because his acolytes are chasing after Brian.

Several characters are never named during the film but do have names which are used in the tracklisting for the soundtrack album and elsewhere. There is no mention in the film of the fact that Eric Idle's ever-cheerful joker is called 'Mr. Cheeky', that the terribly well-meaning Roman guard played by Michael Palin is named 'Nisus Wettus', or that Brian's mother (Terry Jones) is named 'Mandy'.

Themes

Monty Python's Life Of Brian is a farce (a genre of comedy that involves broad humour and mistaken identity) (this is eloquently summed up when Brian's mother explains "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!").

However, the film has also been variously seen as a critique of excessive religiosity, a religious satire depicting organised and popular religion as hypocritical and fanatical, and as a a sacrilegious film deserving censorship. The film's satire on the unthinking nature of religious devotion is perhaps epitomized when Brian attempts to persuade a large crowd of his 'followers' to think for themselves:

Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, you don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for yourselves! You're ALL individuals!
The Crowd (in unison): Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
The Crowd (in unison): Yes, we ARE all different!
Man in Crowd: I'm not...
The Crowd: Shhh!

The film also pokes fun at revolutionary groups: the revolutionary groups opposing the Roman occupation of Judea, are in fact more at loggerheads with one another, trying to out-do each other in charisma and infamy, and calling each other "splitters" (examples include "The Judean People's Front", "The People's Front of Judea", and (with only one member) "The Popular Front").[1] According to the DVD commentary, this part of the story is a satire on the multiplication of ineffectual left-wing parties in Britain during the 1970s: these revolutionary groups would splinter every few weeks, and be angrier at each other than they were at the British government.

Main cast

A listing of all the characters given actual names in the script, or with a spoken role. The Pythons (especially Terry Gilliam) each also played various bystanders and hangers-on. The Pythons themselves are listed first (in alphabetical order) followed by the rest of the cast in order of appearance.

Lost scenes

A number of scenes were cut from the movie after filming. Most of these were lost in 1998 when they were destroyed by the Canadian company that bought Handmade Films. However, a number of lost scenes (of varying quality) were shown in 1999 on Paramount Comedy 1 in the UK; it wasn't disclosed how these scenes were saved or where they came from, presenter Jonathan Ross merely claiming they had been found 'in a black bin bag'.

The scenes shown included: the shepherds' gathering which would have been at the very start of the movie; a segment showing the kidnap of Pilate's wife (a huge mountain of a woman played by John Case); a scene introducing Otto, leader of the Judean People's Front (played by Eric Idle); and a scene in which Pilate's wife alerts Otto to Brian's capture. The shepherds' scene had badly distorted sound, and the kidnap scene had poor colour quality. [1] All can now be found on the DVD that was released as part of The Criterion Collection.

The most controversial cutting was that of Otto's various scenes. Otto, the leader of the Judean People's Front Crack Suicide Squad, who had a thin moustache and spoke with a German accent, was to have been a recurring character. The logo of the Judean People's Front was a Star of David with a small line coming from each point as in a swastika. The official reason for the cutting was that Otto's dialogue slowed down the narrative; however, Terry Gilliam, writing in The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons, said he thought it should have stayed, saying "Listen, we've alienated the Christians, let's get the Jews now". Eric Idle was said to have been uncomfortable with the character; he said that Otto could be perceived as "a rabid attack on Zionism, suggesting it's rather akin to Nazism, which is a bit strong to take, but certainly a point of view". [2] The only scene with Otto that remains in the film is during the crucifixion scene. Otto arrives with his squad, sending the Roman soldiers fleeing in terror. Instead of doing anything useful, they commit suicide in front of the cross, ending Brian's last hope of rescue.

Otto's scenes, and those with Pilate's wife, were cut from the film after the script had gone to the publishers, and so they can be found in the published version of the script. Also present is a scene where, after Brian has lead the Fifth Legion to the HQ of the Peoples Front of Judea, Reg (John Cleese) says "You cunt!! You stupid, bird brained, flat headed..." The profanity was overdubbed to "you klutz" before the film was released. Cleese approved of this editing as he felt the reaction to the four-letter word would 'get in the way of the comedy'. [2] [3]

Blasphemy allegations

The film initially attracted some complaints about Michael Palin and Graham Chapman's portrayals of characters with speech impediments (e.g. Biggus Dickus), but Palin insisted that this was solely for humorous purposes. Indeed, his father had a stammer, and he has since both given his name to and supported 'The Michael Palin Centre'[2], which offers 'specialist assessment and therapy service in stammering'. Palin would later play the role of a stammering convict in A Fish Called Wanda.

However, what caused the most contention was the film's supposed blasphemous content. Protests against the film were organised, based on its perceived blasphemy, not the least of which because the film ends with a comical song sung by the victims of a mass crucifixion ("Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"). Ironically, this song was later re-released with great success, after being sung by British football fans. The increase in popularity, though, became evident in 1982 during the Falklands War when British sailors, injured in an Argentine attack, started singing it. Indeed, many people have come to see the song as a life-affirming ode to optimism. ("Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" is also featured in Eric Idle's Spamalot, a Broadway musical loosely based upon Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and was sung by the rest of the Monty Python gang at Graham Chapman's funeral.)

On its initial release in the UK, the film was banned by several town councils (some of which had no cinemas within their boundaries). 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 'the movie that is so funny, it was banned in Norway!'). The film was not released in Italy until 1990, eleven years after it was made. The film was not shown in Jersey until 2001; the Bailiff of Jersey, Frank Ereaut's government, wanted it to be watched only by adults, even though the BBFC rated it suitable for those aged 14 or over.

Accusations of blasphemy also centred on an off-the-cuff comment by Eric Idle who, when asked about the name of the Pythons' forthcoming feature before it had been made, replied "Jesus Christ: Lust For Glory". It has been variously reported, however, that this idea was merely one of a number abandoned at an early brain-storming stage, mainly when it became clear that a parody of Jesus' life just would not work or, as the Pythons put it, "we discovered (after extensive research) that Jesus's ways are unknockable" [citation needed]. According to the audio commentary, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam, while promoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Amsterdam, came up with a sketch in which Jesus' cross was falling apart because of the idiotic carpenters who built it and he angrily tells them how to do it correctly.

The focus shifted to a separate individual born at a similar time, and a legend was born. When Jesus does appear in the film (as he does on two occasions — in the stable and speaking the Beatitudes (Matt 5:1-48)) — he is portrayed according to Christian beliefs. The comedy only begins when members of the crowd mishear his statement "Blessed are the peacemakers..." ("I think he said, 'Blessed are the cheesemakers'"; also, later, there is some debate on whether "the Greek" should inherit the Earth).

Mary Whitehouse and other campaigners launched waves of leaflets and picketing at and around cinemas that showed the film, ironically boosting the publicity. Leaflets suggesting that the Wise Men would not have approached the wrong stable (as they do in the opening of the film) and similar arguments are documented in Robert Hewison's book Monty Python: The Case Against. Shortly after the film was released, Cleese and Palin engaged in a debate over it on the BBC2 discussion programme Friday Night, Saturday Morning, in which Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark put the case against the film; Cleese has frequently said that he enjoyed the debate, since he felt that the film was 'completely intellectually defensible'. (The debate itself was then sent up, the following week, in a classic sketch from Not the Nine O'Clock News, entitled "General Synod's Life of Christ".)

For their part, the Pythons contend on the DVD commentary that the film is heretical because it lampoons the practices of modern organised religion, but does not blasphemously lampoon the God that Christians worship.

Box office

Life of Brian opened on August 17, 1979 in five North American theatres, and grossed an impressive $140,034 USD ($28,007 per screen) in its opening weekend. Its total gross was a strong $19,398,164 USD. It was the highest-grossing British film in North America that year. In addition, the film was the fourth highest-grossing film in Britain in 1979.

On April 30, 2004, in the wake of the phenomenal box office success of The Passion of the Christ, Life of Brian was re-released on five North American screens. It grossed $26,376 USD ($5,275 per screen) in its opening weekend. It ran until October 2004, playing at 28 screens at its widest point, eventually grossing $646,124 USD during its re-release. By comparison, a re-release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail earned $1.8 million USD three years earlier.

Afterwards

Re-releases

On 24 March 2004, CNN reported that the film distributor Rainbow Film Company would be issuing a re-release (marketed as a "Second Coming") of Monty Python's Life of Brian on April 30 2004, in Los Angeles and New York before expanding to other cities across the USA through May 2004. This was variously reported to be a direct result of the release of Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, or the 25th anniversary of the original theatrical release of Life Of Brian.

Spin-offs

Spin-offs include a script-book The Life of Brian of Nazareth, which is backed by the aptly named MONTYPYTHONSCRAPBOOK... (The printing of this book also caused problems, since there are rarely-used technical laws in the UK against 'blasphemy' dictating what can and cannot be written about religion - the publisher refused to print both halves of the book, and original prints were by two companies).

An album of the songs sung in Monty Python's Life of Brian has been released on the Disky label.

Musical

With the success of Eric Idle's musical retelling of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, called Spamalot, Idle has recently announced that he will be giving Life of Brian the same treatment. The musical, called Not the Messiah, has been commissioned to be part of Luminato, the Toronto Festival of Arts, Culture and Creativity, in June 2007, and is being written/scored by Idle and John Du Prez, who also worked with Idle on Spamalot. It will run approximately 50 minutes, and be conducted by Toronto Symphony Orchestra music director Peter Oundjian, who is Idle's cousin.[4]

Cultural references

References

  1. ^ http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/brian/brian-07.htm
  2. ^ a b Chapman, Graham; Cleese, John; Gilliam, Terry; Idle, Eric; Jones, Terry; Palin Michael; with McCabe, Bob (2003). The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons. London: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 0-7528-5293-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Chapman, Graham; Cleese, John; Gilliam, Terry; Idle, Eric; Jones, Terry; Palin Michael (1979). Monty Python's The Life of Brian/MONTYPYTHONSCRAPBOOKOFBRIANOFNAZERETH. London: Eyre Methuen. ISBN 0413-46550-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ CBC Arts (October 18, 2006). "Python gang reunited as Spamalot opens in London". CBC. Retrieved 2006-10-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)

Further reading

  • Hewison, Robert. Monty Python: The Case Against. New York: Grove, 1981. (ISBN 0-413-48660-5) This book discusses at length the censorship and controversy surrounding the film.
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