Monty Python's Life Of Brian

Terry Jones, UK 1979, 93 minutes

Probably the best of the Pythons' four films, this opens with the three wise men arriving at the wrong manger and worshipping the baby whilst bestowing gifts on a rather confused mother, Terry Jones ("Well weren't they nice, Brian! Out of their bloody minds, but very nice!") and closes with a rousing rendition of `Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life' sung by a choir of crucifixion victims. Somewhere in between the two, we are presented the story of young Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), a story that gives some shape to this consistently hilarious, and not really all that blasphemous, film.

Brian is a true reluctant messiah (at one point even telling a large group of assembled followers to "fuck off", prompting the memorable reply "How would you like us to fuck off?"), bumbling his way through a series of highly memorable scenes in his vain attempts to escape not only his adoring followers but also the Roman soldiers who are out to string him up.

The film succeeds by taking some of the more famous biblical moments and giving them that classic Python spin, such as the sermon on the mount heard by a group standing too far away to hear properly ("Did he say `Blessed are the cheese makers'?"), the concession stands at a public stoning ("I'll have two big flat ones, five little sharp ones and a bag of gravel"), or Michael Palin's Pontius Pilate with a speech impediment ("Stwike him, centuwion!"/"Um, about half past four, sir"). A true classic by any milestone.

"Utterly irreverent tale" - Variety

Review by Ben Stephens
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97

This oft-banned satire tackles the rather sensitive subject of religious extremism and seperatism - witness the disputes between the People's Front of Judea and the Judean People's Front. Both groups are in the forefront of the attack on the nefarious evil of Roman Imperialism, but still find time to consider such earth shatteringly important philosophical questions as whether or not men should have the right to have babies. Graham Chapman is Brian, who mistakenly becomes adopted as the Messiah by an enthusiastic crowd declaring "only the true Messiah would deny his own divinity". Catch-22.

Though remaining a powerful socio-political religious commentary Brian includes such classic characters as Bigus Dickus and such memorable scenes as Brian's mother Terry Jones - a man dressed up as a woman - dressed up as a man in order to participate in a stoning. George Harrison, who financed the film, appears in a crowd of soldiers for about a second and a half.

And remember, always look on the bright side of life.

Review by Malcolm Maclaren
Taken from EUFS Programme 1993-94