Burn the Unbeliever!

British comedy is, of course, the best in the world. And Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the surreal brainchild of a bunch of Oxbridge graduates, is frequently hailed as its finest hour. And then, in more than one interview, John Cleese says that Life of Brian is the thing he wants to be remembered for when he dies. So, it follows that this film must be the funniest thing ever made.

And, for once, this is true. Life of Brian is an utterly and consistently brilliant film from its Bond parody opening credits right the way through to Eric Idle’s rousing singalong Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from the top of that green hill far away. Every time I watch it, it’s with a slightly anxious expression, waiting for that one duff gag, the one dodgy scene that will tarnish the film’s magnificence. It never happens. I have lost count of the times I have watched it, and yet it still never fails to raise many, many laughs.

The film follows the adventures of Brian, a young man from Jerusalem who desperately wants to join the fight against the occupying Roman Army. On the way he evades capture through a thrilling space-battle, falls in love and improves his Latin grammar.

The hit-and-miss approach to the writing that often dominated Monty Python’s television incarnation (let’s be honest, a lot of it was rubbish) is jettisoned for a remarkably tightly-structured narrative. The regular Python cast of Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam are running around brilliantly-shot locations in Tunisia, having nicked someone else’s film set. Stock footage and crowd scenes from other Biblical epics are skillfully woven in to give the appearance of a much larger budget which results in a highly polished production. With five Oxbridge graduates running around dressed as women.

Ah, that word. Biblical. I’m not sure what annoys me more about the continuing attempts to burn the filmmakers for heresy, or whatever the hell it is those placard-waving morons outside cinemas actually want to do. There’s the absurd suggestion that a film should be banned for portraying the life of Christ in a humourous light. But then I also get cheesed off at the extremely lily-livered attempts by the film’s backers to pretend that the film’s not disrespectful to religion.

Come off it!!! One of the greatest things about this film is the way in which it seeks to expose self-righteous hypocrites and cretins. Brian would love to be the Messiah, rather than just a very naughty boy, and he keeps trying to preach his message of being non-judgemental and free-thinking. But although he is worshipped, no one actually listens to his message, splitting into rival cults and yelling things like ‘Heretic! Persecute! Burn!’ at them. So, really, all the rabid morons are doing is living up to their depiction in the film. But Brian’s not actually meant to be Jesus, in case you were wondering, because Jesus is seen in the film twice, and is name-checked by the ‘ex-leper’.

There is an insane vicar somewhere in the UK that is still campaigning to have the film banned, and he cheerfully admits that he still hasn’t actually seen it. Which says all you need to know about fundamentalists, really.

Life of Brian contains a lot of unforgettable comedy moments, from the oft-quoted and slightly over-rated crowd scene (‘He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy’) to the forgotten gems such as Brian’s conception (’You were raped?’ ‘Well, at first...’). The timing is brilliant, the acting is exactly as straight as it needs to be and Terry Gilliam’s delirious animated sequence looks like the TV version of the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (ie, brilliant).

There’s little doubt that, for an atheist and general troublemaker like me, the controversy and debate surrounding Life of Brian has added enormously to its appeal. At one point, the mere act of watching the film was an act of defiance against an insane establishment. Brilliant as it is, without all the hysteria it probably wouldn’t get the top spot in anyone’s list of the greatest films ever made. As it is, however, the film provides some hilarious wordplay, slapstick, black comedy and satire while providing a fascinating meta-commentary on the stupidity of religious intolerance.