Monty Python’s Life of Brian
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| Life of Brian | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | Terry Jones |
| Produced by | John Goldstone |
| Written by | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin |
| Starring | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin |
| Music by | Geoffrey Burgon |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros./ Orion Pictures Corporation (USA) Handmade Films (UK) |
| Release date(s) | 1979 |
| Running time | 94 mins |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Monty Python and the Holy Grail |
| Followed by | Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
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; and on the Internet Movie Database, the film is consistently ranked among the top 100 films of all time.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
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, played by Terry Jones, 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' Sermon on the Mount, he becomes infatuated with the attractive young rebel Judith (Sue Jones-Davies), 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".
[edit] Cast and characters
The following is a list of all the characters given actual names in the script, or with a spoken role. Each Python (especially Terry Gilliam) 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.
- Graham Chapman - Brian, Biggus Dickus, 1st wise man
- John Cleese - Reg, Jewish official at stoning, Centurion of the Yard, Deadly Dirk, Arthur, 3rd wise man.
- Terry Gilliam - Blood and Thunder prophet, Geoffrey, Jailer
- Eric Idle - Mr Cheeky, Stan called Loretta, Harry the Haggler, Culprit woman who casts first stone, Intensely dull youth, Otto, Jailer's assistant, Mr Frisbee IIIrd
- Terry Jones - Mandy, Colin, Simon the Holy Man, Bob Hoskins, Saintly passer by.
- Michael Palin - Mr Big Nose, Francis, Mrs A, Ex-leper, Ben, Pontius Pilate, Boring Prophet, Eddie, Nisus Wettus, 2nd wise man.
- Ken Colley - Jesus the Christ
- Gwen Taylor - Mrs Big Nose, Woman with sick donkey, young girl
- Terence Baylor - Gregory, Dennis
- Carol Cleveland - Mrs Gregory, Elsie
- Charles McKeown - Man further forward (at Mount), Stig, Blind Man
- Sue Jones-Davies - Judith Iscariot
- John Young - Matthias
- Bernard McKenna - Stoner's Helper, Parvus
- Spike Milligan - Spike
- George Harrison - Mr Papadopoulis
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'.
[edit] Making the film
The are various stories about the origins of Life of Brian. Before production began, Eric Idle suggested that the title of the Pythons' forthcoming feature would be "Jesus Christ: Lust For Glory".<ref name="From Fringe to Flying Circus">Wilmut, Roger (1980). From Fringe to Flying Circus. London: Eyre Methuen Ltd, pp.247-250. ISBN 0-413-46950-6.</ref> It has been variously reported, however, that this idea was merely one of a number abandoned at an early brain-storming stage, 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' ways are unknockable".[citation needed] According to the DVD 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. Another idea considered was that of St. Brian, "the thirteenth disciple".<ref name="From Fringe to Flying Circus" /> The focus eventually shifted to a separate individual born at a similar time.
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.<ref name="From Fringe to Flying Circus" /> Terry Gilliam later said, "They pulled out on the Thursday. The crew was supposed to be leaving on the Saturday. Disastrous. It was because they read the script... finally."<ref name="Welease Bwian"> Sellers, Robert. "Welease Bwian", The Guardian, March 28, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.</ref> Harrison appears in a cameo role but his voice is dubbed by Michael Palin.
There is also a cameo appearance by Spike Milligan (who just happened to be in Tunisia where the filming was taking place)<ref name="From Fringe to Flying Circus" /> as a prophet ignored because his acolytes are chasing after Brian. The Tunisian location allowed the production to reuse sets from Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth (1977).<ref>Ebert, Roger (June 18, 2004). Monty Python's Life of Brian. Digital Chicago. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.</ref> Many locals were employed as extras on Life of Brian. Terry Jones noted, "They were all very knowing because they'd all worked for Franco Zeffirelli on Jesus of Nazareth, so I had these elderly Tunisians telling me, 'Well, Mr Zeffirelli wouldn't have done it like that, you know.'"<ref name="Welease Bwian" />
[edit] Themes and controversies
[edit] Religious satire and blasphemy accusations
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!" and further proven by Brian's standing near the back of the crowd when Jesus gives his sermon on the mount. 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. The film's satire on the unthinking nature of religious devotion is epitomised by Brian's attempt to persuade an enormous 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 implies that many cryptic "signs" from Jesus were instead bizarre accidents which people interpreted as religious (as when Brian loses his shoe and the followers declare it to be a sign).
The representation of Christ alongside comedy proved controversial. 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"). 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 film that is so funny that it was banned in Norway').<ref name="Python's Jones Passionate About 'Life Of Brian's' Return">Lammers, Tim (May 17, 2004). Python's Jones Passionate About 'Life Of Brian's' Return. WNBC. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.</ref> 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.
In the UK, Mary Whitehouse and other campaigners launched waves of leaflets and picketing at and around cinemas that showed the film, ironically boosting the publicity. Leaflets arguing against the film's representation of the New Testament (for example, suggesting that the Wise Men would not have approached the wrong stable as they do in the opening of the film) 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 about 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 sketch on Not the Nine O'Clock News entitled "General Synod's Life of Christ."
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. 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).
[edit] Political satire
The film also pokes fun at revolutionary groups opposing the Roman occupation of Judea, who 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". 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.
[edit] Stammering
The film 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, which offers "specialist assessment and therapy service in stammering". Nearly 10 years after Life of Brian, Palin would play the role of a stammering convict in A Fish Called Wanda.
[edit] 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 has not been 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 has badly distorted sound, and the kidnap scene has poor colour quality.<ref>SOTCAA (2004). Monty Python – Films. UK Online. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.</ref> All can now be found on the Criterion Collection DVD.
The most controversial cut was the scenes involving Otto, the leader of the Judean People's Front Crack Suicide Squad, who had a thin moustache and spoke with a German accent. Otto 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".<ref name="autobiography">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.</ref> 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 headquarters of the People's 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'.<ref name="autobiography" /><ref>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 0-413-46550-0.</ref>
[edit] 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, Life of Brian was re-released on five North American screens to "cash in" (as Terry Jones put it)<ref name="Python's Jones Passionate About 'Life Of Brian's' Return" /> on the phenomenal box office success of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. 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 had earned $1.8 million USD three years earlier.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Spin-offs
Spin-offs include a script-book The Life of Brian of Nazareth, which is backed by 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).
"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was later re-released with great success, after being sung by British football fans. The increase in popularity 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.)
An album of the songs sung in Monty Python's Life of Brian has been released on the Disky label.
[edit] 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 will be conducted by Toronto Symphony Orchestra music director Peter Oundjian, who is Idle's cousin.<ref name="Brian gets Musical">CBC Arts (October 18, 2006). Python gang reunited as Spamalot opens in London. CBC. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.</ref>
[edit] Cultural references
- In the British sit-com The Return of Shelley, protagonist James Shelley, addressing God in an apologetic manner, says "Sorry I laughed at Life of Brian."
- In the Rowan Atkinson sketch "The Devil", from Rowan Atkinson Live in Belfast (1982), the crowd of people awaiting entrance to Hell includes "everyone who saw Monty Python's Life of Brian... Ah, yes, I'm afraid He can't take a joke after all..."
- Atkinson also appears in a Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch, in which a bishop who has made a scandalous film called "The Life of Christ" is raked over the coals by a representative of the "Church of Python", claiming that the film is an attack on "Our Lord, John Cleese." and on the members of Python, who, in the sketch, are the subjects of Britain's true religious faith.
- Naughtius Maximus, the supposed name of Brian's father which is given by his mother Mandy, is also the name of a Malaysian hip hop band.
- In the Bible-critical episode of Bullshit!, "The Bible: Fact or Fiction?", Penn jokes after having told about the numerous other "messiahs" by the time of Jesus, that Monty Python's The Life of Brian was probably more historically correct than Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his Prime Minister's Question Time of 3 May 2005 made a shorthand (and mistaken) reference to the political groups "Judean People's Front" or "People's Front of Judea" lampooned in Life of Brian.<ref>TheyWorkForYou (3 May 2005). House of Commons Debates. mySociety. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.</ref>
- In parts of Northern Ireland graffiti can sometimes be seen supporting the "PFJ" (and sometimes denouncing the "JPF") this is a parody of the widespread graffiti in support of real life Loyalist paramilitary organisations.
[edit] References
[edit] 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.
[edit] External links
- Life of Brian at the Internet Movie Database
- Entire movie script
- Transcript of the sketch The General Synod's Life of Christ
- Keith Short - Film Sculptor Image of giant feet sculpted for this film
- Criterion Collection essay by George Perry
- An explanation of the Latin used in the "Romans Go Home" scene
[edit] Reviews
- Filmcritic.com review of Life of Brian
- James Berardinelli's Review on Life of Brian
- Life of Brian at Rotten Tomatoes
- Silver Screen Reviews
| Monty Python | 
|
|---|---|
| Graham Chapman • John Cleese • Terry Gilliam • Eric Idle • Terry Jones • Michael Palin | |
| Other Contributors | |
| Douglas Adams • Connie Booth • Carol Cleveland • Neil Innes | |
| TV Series | |
| Monty Python’s Flying Circus • Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus • Monty Python’s Personal Best | |
| Films | |
| And Now For Something Completely Different • Monty Python and the Holy Grail • Monty Python’s Life of Brian • Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl • Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life | |
| Stage Productions | |
| Spamalot • Not the Messiah | |
| Preceded by: Autumn Sonata | The Criterion Collection 61 | Succeeded by: The Passion of Joan of Arc |
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