Monty Python and the Holy Controversy

The comedy sketch troupe Monty Python has always been well recognized for their absurd and irreverent style of humor, but in 1979, with the release of their follow-up to their enthusiastically-received MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975), it looked as if they may have gone too far, or perhaps, in the comedy sketch tradition, they had gone exactly where they wanted.  Picket lines formed thickly outside cinemas, including, to the troupe's delight, "nuns with banners", and the film became a lightning rod of condemnation from a wide assortment of right-wing organizations, social and political activists and religious organizations.  Several European countries and provinces banned or otherwise censored the film for periods of varying lengths, including Norway, after which the film's posters proudly exclaimed "So funny it was banned in Norway!" because that's what Monty Python does.  The film was MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT EXACTLY?
The "Brian" of the title is Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), born on the same night as Jesus, in the manger just next door, where the three wise men initially seek the new king heralded by the star over Bethlehem.

Pilate flanked by his Centurion Guard (left) and "Biggus Dickus."

Raised by his cranky and hideous mother Mandy (Terry Jones in drag) who has scandalous relationships with soldiers of the Roman army, Brian grows up into a neurotic Jewish man in the politically-heated climate of Roman-occupied Judea.  Disdainful of the brutish Romans and infatuated with Judith Iscariot (Sue Jones-Davies), Brian becomes involved with The People's Front of Judea (of which Judith is a devoted member), one of the many ridiculously polarized Jewish resistance groups.  After getting into various rebellious hijinks, Brian is arrested by the Romans.  After an encounter with the buffoonish and speech-impedimented Pontius Pilate (Michael Palin), Brian makes a run for it and disguises himself from the pursuing Roman guards as one of the many street preachers, but his cover has an unexpected side effect when he quickly develops a religious following.  Despite his protests that he is not the prophesied Messiah, every little action Brian makes is seized as a religious doctrine.  While trying to escape his new religious devotees, Brian is re-arrested by the Roman guards and scheduled for crucifixion, and after various attempts by his friends to have him pardoned, the film ends with Brian on the cross.
The religious outrage toward LIFE OF BRIAN could hardly have been surprising, due to the blatant spoofing of Judeo-Christian biblical traditions, but I suppose whether or not it is actually sacrilege, on the whole at least, depends on how orthodox or dogmatic your beliefs are.  The Monty Python cast were not about to actually make fun of Jesus, and that option was off of the table pretty early on, with Eric Idle later referring to Jesus as "definitely a good guy" and "not particularly funny".  With nothing about Jesus himself considered worth lampooning, the Pythons toyed with ideas of a 13th apostle, but ultimately chose it as best to steer clear of a particularly Jesus-centric plot and instead decided to go for the throat of things like organized religion, dogma and tradition- elements of religion that they were more apprehensive about.  It would still assuredly rile the religious sensibilities of many, but this controversy would be more defensible and a bit of free publicity wouldn't hurt.
HOW AND WHY IT PISSED OFF PEOPLE
LIFE OF BRIAN was not the attack on Christianity is has been accused of being, but it was certainly a jab at modern organized religion and church practices and traditions, plainly evident when, after being mistaken for the Messiah, Brian's followers attribute spiritual value to insignificant things such as one of Brian's sandals or a gourd he was holding (a send-up of holy relics) or labeling a juniper bush Brian points out to the hungry mob as a miracle just because they didn't notice it before.  In one especially brilliant scene, Brian frustratedly tries to encourage independent thought to his unwanted followers:

BRIAN: "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 MULTITUDE:  "Yes!  We're all individuals!"

BRIAN: "You're all different!"

THE MULTITUDE: "Yes!  We're all different!"

MAN IN THE CROWD: "I'm not..."

THE MULTITUDE: "SHH!" 

 Whether or not you agree with the point that the Pythons are making, it's not startling that it offended some, but as with many ultra-controversial works, most of the offended have not even found out by their own experience, having instead had their indignant wrath lit through secondary sources and/or hearsay.  The hearsay of heresy is probably the biggest culprit in the controversial reputation of this, the second in sequence and in fame of the Monty Python films, as from the instant production on their new New Testament comedy was announced, anxieties skyrocketed on both sides, to the nervous delight of Monty Python, no doubt.
LIFE OF BRIAN; the film that makes fun of Jesus Christ actually does have Jesus in it, played by Kenneth Colley, onscreen for ten seconds or so, but his portrayal is uncharacteristically sincere for a Python production.  He is shown sitting in the midst of a great crowd, preaching the "Sermon on the Mount", specifically the Beatitudes, and in a very traditional depiction.  Of course, after what barely amounts to a cameo for Jesus, they switch over to Graham Chapman as Brian, Terry Jones as his Mum, as well as Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terence Baylor, amongst others, listening at the far edge of the crowd, unable to hear, i.e., "Oh, it's 'blessed are the meek!'  Oh, I'm glad they're getting something, they have a hell of a time."  Other than that, the only other direct reference to Jesus is the Ungrateful Ex-Leper (Michael Palin) who was unwillingly cured of his "livelihood" by Jesus, whom he derides as a "bloody do-gooder".  On a side note: the use of the English expletive bloody has additional ironic humor in the context of its origination.

BRIAN:  "Well, why don't you go and tell him you want to be a leper again?

EX-LEPER:  "Uh, I could do that sir, yeah. Yeah, I could do that I suppose. What I was thinking was I was going to ask him if he could make me a bit lame in one leg during the middle of the week. You know, something beggable, but not leprosy, which is a pain in the ass to be blunt and excuse my French, sir."

HOW IT AVOIDS "BLASPHEMY" THROUGH TECHNICALITIES

It seems that most major debates involving mainstream religion come down to deciding what symbols, rituals, events or what have you, belong exclusively to religion and which of these has a justified secular counterpart, for example, in today's political arena, marriage.  The debate over LIFE OF BRIAN, be it a benign farce or an outright blasphemy, revolves around the very same issue, because once you've seen the film and know that the filmmakers are not smearing Jesus, what's left is the question of whether the symbols and themes that the Pythons do use for comedy are used as a deliberate smear of Christianity (or Judaism), or if they're just as secular and open for justifiably inoffensive use.  That is, while anyone has a right to be offended, can such things be truthfully be labeled an insult or blasphemy?

It is already quite clear that the Pythons are deliberately roasting religious organizations and dogmas, so take that as you will; it is a point that is deliberately made and can be justifiably offensive with little argument.  However, the use of themes and elements of crucifixion and Messianic prophecy are far more open to interpretation, and while widely and strongly associated with Judeo-Christian beliefs, they have a presence in the secular arena as well.
The Messianic prophecy is a prominent theme in LIFE OF BRIAN, as well as the assorted Bible epics it is a send-up of, especially BEN-HUR (1959) which similarly follows the life of a man parallel to the life of Christ, albeit with much more significant presence, as well as KING OF KINGS (1961), which emphasized the role of "false Messiahs" and Jewish resistance factions in the historical context of Jesus' life.  LIFE OF BRIAN is making fun of those movies and others of the sort, rather than of Christian scripture, and so the running joke of Brian being mistaken for the Messiah is technically not a blasphemy, however indelicate.

"He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"

-Mandy Cohen (Brian's Mom)

Always Looking on the Bright Side of Your Life.

The topic of crucifixion is s recurring one throughout the film, and the film's finale takes place with Brian and an assortment of eccentric characters, including the hysterically silly Mr. Cheeky (Eric Idle), an impudent young Jewish man who's been on the cross a few times before, but his brother usually comes to get him.  The scene ends with the "crucifees" singing a comically cheery rendition of Eric Idle's original song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Your Life".  While I'm certain that the Pythons had the full intention of riling religious sensibilities, at least to some extent, the scene, while dark in its humor, cannot actually be blasphemous, because crucifixion was historically a practice of the Persians and Romans, and the Christian symbol of the cross does not represent crucifixion, but rather, the death of Jesus.  Crucifixion is not actually holy to Christianity, not in essence; that would just be silly.  Jesus is the most famous victim of crucifixion in history, but he's also the most famous person in history, period, and you can just as well accuse the scene of lampooning SPARTACUS (1960), based on the life of the rebel slave Spartacus who was crucified with his followers nearly a century before Christ.  In fact, the scene does in at least one way spoof SPARTACUS when it is announced that Brian has been pardoned, and all those being crucified declare "I'm Brian!".

BUT IS IT GOOD?

While episodic regardless, this film sets aside the typically disjointed comedy-sketch structure of most Monty Python works, instead using a fairly focused narrative, as well as a more professional and polished production than their other films, probably due to the Terry Jones going solo on director's duties, whereas with THE HOLY GRAIL and THE MEANING OF LIFE, he shared with Terry Gilliam, whose whimsically hand-crafted look was more prominent in those.  However, Gilliam's behind the camera mark is still present, in particular in the opening credits animated sequence and in a marvelously bizarre sequence wherein Brian leaps off a building while fleeing from Roman soldiers and lands in a passing-by alien spacecraft, inhabited by a couple of very Gilliam-esque alien pilots, and witnesses a space battle before the ship crashes back down in the streets of Jerusalem as a bystander remarks "Lucky bastard," as Brian stumbles out of the wreckage.

In addition, thanks to the use of sets left over from Franco Zeffirelli's big-budget miniseries, JESUS OF NAZARETH (1977), the city of Jerusalem where most of the film takes place lends a much greater sense of production value than is characteristic of the Pythons' works.  These factor may all be for better or worse, depending on the viewers expectations and appreciation of the other Monty Python films.

A guard tries not to laugh about Biggus Dickus

The screenplay, as written by the Pythons is arguably the wittiest and most intelligent of their portfolio of work (although THE MEANING OF LIFE might give it a run for its money), and yet, as brilliant comedy must, it never actually reveals that it has some idea of what it's talking about.  Instead, in that glorious Monty Python tradition, they maintain a constant facade of idiocy and juvenility throughout with jokes about Brian's Roman rapist father, Naughtius Maximus (a spoof on the secular historian theory of Jesus being the result of a pregnancy conceived in rape) and Pontius Pilate's Roman noble friend Biggus Dickus (Graham Chapman) and his wife, Incontinentia Buttocks, goofy masochistic personalities and a couple scenes of full-frontal nudity, just for good measure.  But on repeat viewings, as you read into the gags, there are plainly evident commentaries on contemporary society, the nature of human spirituality and philosophical matters.  Of course that's all very well and edifying, but the highlight is definitely the stupidity and vulgarity.

MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN
4 out of 4 stars 
Directed by: Terry Jones
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Sue Jones-Davies
Rated R for unspecified reasons (but contains crude and sexual content, brief graphic nudity, language and some violent images).