Monty Python's Life of Brian

Parodying the Gospel? No, not exactly. It's a line from Monty Python's hilarious Life of Brian. Those who stand at the back during the Sermon of the Mount, cannot but misinterpret Jesus's words. With these down-to-earth interpretations making up half the fun of the Life of Brian, the other half is simply hilariously grotesque – who'll ever forget the mass of crucifieds singing the immortal anthem, “Always look on the bright side of life”?

Due to this optimist hymn, the Python's movies are imputed with a “gentle humanism” that defies the belief that humanists have to be people who cannot transcend the drudgery of everyday life and enjoy spirited things. But for all the light-hearted humour that makes this movie a must-see (it has several times been voted the “funniest movie ever”), it stirred scandal upon its release. The movie actually portrays the life of Brian of Nazareth, fictitious contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth, who is sometimes mistaken for a messiah himself – those things happen when everyone is expecting the saviour to come – and finally crucified by the Romans.

Therefore, the accusations of it being blasphemous and undermining Christian morale are probably even funnier than the movie itself. From the beginning it is clear that Brian is not to be taken for Christ, and the movie rather takes on the misguidings of organised religion, rather than religion itself.

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!

Nonetheless, entire campaigns were staged wherever the movie was released and the movie was banned in several places. (For instance in Norway – Swedish ads were run: “So funny it was banned in Norway”). The bulk of these campaigns were run by Christian groups, accusing the makers of blasphemy. This prompted them to defend their movie by saying it wasn't blasphemous, “only heretic”, as it takes on organised religion's structuration. In the end, two of the Python's, Michael Palin and John Cleese were engaged in a televised debate with the bishop of Southwark (Anglican) and a born again christian broadcaster. As can be expected, these were impenetrable for the humour of the film, and used the platform as if it were a pulpit. Less than a week later, the debate was parodied in another BBC evening show.

Although the movie's release is almost thirty years ago, you can get quite a good idea of the animosity it caused by watching the documentary “The secret life of Brian”, which can be found entirely on Youtube. Apart from the aforementioned debate, it also shows a hilarious interview with a local councillor who has banned the film, although he hasn't seen it, and doesn't know the Christian organisation who prompted him to ban it. And if you think these days lay behind us, its noteworthy that still in 2007 uproar was caused by a screening of the movie in a church.

(A shorter documentary can be watched here)