The fun, again : The life of Brian

The Life of Brian, 1979

Directed by Terry Jones

Nationality: British

The Life of Brian is one of the most famous films made by the Monty Pythons.

It tells the story of Brian, a baby who was at year 0, visited by the Magi, on the 24^Th of December. But they finally see they are in the wrong stable, take all the goods back, and leave Brian and his mum, still poor and miserable !

The interesting thing is that the movie is not exactly based on Jesus’ life, but on how Brian suffers from being born on the same day, and how everyone thinks he’s the Messiah.

The humour in this movie is based on the situations, of course, as it is always a different point of view of Jesus’ “steps” before he gets crucified. We see all of that through Brian’s life and most of the things are based on unfortunate misunderstandings. But this is also probably the most scenarized film the Monty Python made, with a less absurd humour. But even though it’s very funny, they still make fun of the blind belief of some people towards someone (here, it’s Brian), and therefore completely ridiculous and makes fun of religion.

Like most funny guys, they all are very intelligent, cultivated and discerning men. Their humour makes sense, and to make the kind of humour you find in The Life of Brian, one of the first parodies about Christ, they needed to know what they were doing.

Making this film was very risky at the time, in 1979, and also as it was the first time it was ever done. In America, some people fought for the movie to be banned, and it provoked a whole movement for freedom of expression, and freedom of artistic expression. I don’t think anyone else could have made that but them. They already were loved and admired for their shifted humour, and thanks to that, they had a sort of immunity (even if of course the Church was not happy at all), and were already loved by most of the population.

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I tried to show that even if English movies are not always so fun, and happy, I also made this blog because the thing I love is that most of the time, humour is always present. And it actually represents how I figure English people are : optimistic, "shit happens all the time", and they move on, and that's what I love the most about what I see in most of those movies I told you about. Hope you enjoyed it ! 

Always look on the Brightside of Life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVXR0AKyxA4