Monty Python’s Life of Brian, the most prophetic movie ever made. It predicts exactly what you will see today in 1979. The flick was incorrectly criticized four decades ago by people who still find it hilarious today.
Various groups believed that Life of Brian was anti-Christian and protested vigorously during its U.S. release. It is impossible to be more truthful. Only two instances of Jesus are shown in the movie. One is off-screen. The first is the night Jesus was born (Brian’s too). What little we see of Jesus is consistent with the Bible. Except for the part in which the Three Wise Men tried to deliver their gifts first to baby Brian next door, that is.
The other scene shows Jesus giving the Sermon On the Mount years later. Jesus and His message are not mocked. Jesus is the only person who has been treated with respect among all the gags, jokes, and barbs that were thrown at him. Eric Idle, a Monty Python performer, later stated that Jesus’s words were not mockable. It’s very good stuff.
That endorsement is almost a complete-hearted endorsement for a comedian who doesn’t believe in God and takes no prisoners like Idle.
The film — Python’s only true film, all others were collections of sketches even Holy Grail — is instead anti-authoritarian and anti-fanaticism. It also features anti-nihilism and anti-humorless jokers.
However, the Life of Brian is very funny. Even the Pythons saved their sharpest barbs to be used by political extremists or self-deluded lefties. This is the last observation. The classic Collessium conversation among the Judean People’s Front would-be revolutionaries. Oder was it the People’s Front of Judea
Monty Python mocks the then-nascent trends in culture that have since dominated not only our culture but also our politics, and even our private lives.
