Brian's life

The Life of Brian (original title: Life of Brian; 1979) is the third feature film by the English comedy group Monty Python. It deals with the story of a Jew who is born on the same day as Jesus Christ and as an adult is several times confused with him. With classic Python songs like "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" sung by a chorus of the crucified, the film is, along with Knights of the Square Table and The Meaning of Life one of Monty Python's most successful.

The Life of Brian was a box office success, earning the fourth-highest grossing of any film in the UK in 1979, and the highest grossing of any British film in the United States that year. same year. It has received very positive reviews: it is considered "the best comedy film of all time" by several specialized magazines and television channels.

Plot

The protagonist, Brian Cohen, is born in the doorway of a stable, a few steps from the birthplace of Jesus, which at first confuses the three Wise Men, who came to praise the "king of the Jews". They offered the three gifts (gold, frankincense and myrrh) to Brian's mother, Mandy (although she first rejects these gifts for fear of the "balm", which the mother considers a monster); shortly after leaving the Bethlehem portal, they realize his mistake and return to take it from him. Brian grows up an idealistic young man who resists the Roman occupation of Judea, even after learning that his father was a Roman centurion named Traviesus Maximus, who raped Brian's mother ("You mean you were raped?" Well, at first, yes»). While attending the true Messiah's Sermon on the Mount, Brian falls madly in love with a rebellious and attractive young woman, Judith. His love for her and hatred of the Romans lead him to join the Judean Popular Front (FPJ), one of many partisan and separatist organizations, who spend most of their time fighting each other, rather than killing each other. the roman occupation. The cynical leader of the group, Reg, gives Brian his first assignment: he is to scribble a piece of graffiti on the wall of the Governor's Palace. Just finished, he finds a centurion and two guards stopping and, after looking at the writing and indignant at Brian's faulty Latin grammar (he wrote "Romanes eunt domus", to which the centurion told him says it means "so-called Romans go home"), forces it to type the corrected message ("Romani ite domum", or "Romans, go home") one hundred times. At dawn, the walls of the palace are covered with graffiti. When the changing of the guard takes place at dawn, the new guards try to stop Brian, but he escapes with the help of Judith.

Brian then agrees to participate in a plot to kidnap the governor's daughter, in order to extort money from him. However, during the mission they meet the group "Popular Judaic Front", a rival faction with the same objective of separatist intention and who also wants to capture the daughter of the governor. Despite Brian's attempts, who tells them that they must work together, the two parties begin to fight and the plan ends in failure. This leaves Brian again trying to flee, but this time he is captured and summoned to appear before Governor Pontius Pilate. He tries to escape punishment by claiming his Roman citizenship, as the son of a centurion named Traviesus Maximus, but the captain of the guard refuses to believe the authenticity of his name. Pilate does not understand his doubt, to which the captain affirms that this name does not exist, comparing it to "Quasimeus" or "Pijus Magnificus". The guards break into fits of laughter after a furious Pilate reveals that one of his best friends is a high-ranking centurion named Pijus Magnificus, who has a wife known as Incontinentia Summa, and Brian takes advantage of the distraction to escape..

After several mishaps, including a brief trip into space in a manned alien spacecraft that crashes at the foot of the very tower from which it fell, the fugitive's escape leads him to end up at a speaker's lectern, at a rally of aspiring mystics and prophets who like to harangue the crowd that walks through a square. Forced to speak of something plausible to camouflage himself and keep the guards off his back, Brian babbles religious pseudo-truths, quickly attracting a larger crowd than the others, forming a small but intrigued audience. Once the guards have left, Brian tries to put an end to the charade, but realizes that his 'speech' is making him feel like he's gone. it had just inspired a religious movement. After a long —and not graceless— flight, the group grows when he finds that more people have begun to follow him, hailing him as "the messiah".

There are even two different sects. Ecstasy is reached with the discovery of a bush by the populace, hailed as a "miracle." After slipping away from the crowd, which is busy pursuing a "heretic"—actually, a hermit that Brian has inadvertently annoyed and becomes angry with—Brian meets up with Judith, and they spend the night together at the house. from his mother. In the morning, Brian opens the curtains to take in the scenery, but discovers a huge mass of people in front of the house. All proclaim him as the Messiah. Horrified, Brian tries helplessly to change his thoughts so that they don't consider him the savior, but his words and actions are immediately taken as points of doctrine, leading to hilarious situations.

Nor can unhappy Brian find solace back at FPJ headquarters, where people bring their disease-stricken bodies closer to him and demand miraculous cures. Reg even claims that she has booked a session in the bush for him. Then Brian is finally captured and they decide to crucify him (one cross per person!). Meanwhile, a large crowd gathers outside the palace, fueled by the general feeling of anger in the community, which wishes to spare the "prophet" from death. Pilate, along with a visit from Pijus Magnificus, tries to kill off the sentiment for revolution by granting the decision of who is to be pardoned. Instead of him, Pilate chooses several names that begin with the letter r, intended to highlight his speech impediment, proposing a candidate who does not have the support of the population. Pijus Magnificus then attempts to take control of the situation by reading the list of prisoners, but the combination of his gravelly lisp and the name of the prisoners—they all have names beginning with that—causes the horde to erupt in laughs.

Finally Pilate, by popular decision, orders Brian's release. But, at one point, parodying the climax of the movie Spartacus, several crucified people claim to be Brian, one man even says "I'm Brian, and so is my wife," and the guards choose the wrong man. Brian also has several opportunities to escape death, but fails, as one by one his "allies", including Judith and her mother, step forward to explain why they are letting the "noble fighter" die. for freedom" that hangs wrapped in the warmth of the sun. In extremis, a liberation army arrives, from the "Jewish People's Front", but instead of saving it, its members proceed to commit suicide by sticking their own swords. Condemned to a long and painful death, several companions of the crucifixion try to cheer him up by singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, ending the film with this song.

Cast

• Graham Chapman - Brian Cohen (from Nazareth), Pijus Magnificus, 2nd King Magician
• John Cleese - Reg, High Priest, First Centurion, Deadly Dirk, Arthur, 1st Magic King
• Terry Gilliam - Person from before during the Speech of the Mountain ("Have you heard it? Blessed are the geese"), Prophet of blood and thunder, Geoffrey, Carcelero, Frank
• Eric Idle - Mr. Cheeky, Stan/Loretta, Vendedor who bargains, Guilty woman who throws the first stone, very boring boy, Otto, jailer assistant, Mr. Frisbee III
• Terry Jones... Mandy Cohen (Mother of Brian), Colin, Simon, the sacred man, Bob Hoskins, sacred walker
• Michael Palin... Mr. Narizotas, Francis, Mrs. Guilty woman who throws the second stone, exleprous, Ben, Pontius Pilate, dull Prophet, Eddie, Roman Guard, 3rd Magic King
• Terence Bayler - Mr. Gregory, 2nd Centurion
• Carol Cleveland - Mrs. Gregory, Elsie
• Kenneth Colley - Jesus

General information

The film was directed by Terry Jones and written by the Monty Pythons: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman.

It is inspired in a parody key by the messianic philosophy that led to the birth of Christianity. It is a fictional comedy set in the context of Palestine at the time of Christ, during the Roman Empire. It is based on the adventures of an ordinary man, Brian, the bastard son of a Roman soldier and a Jewish feminist, who is repeatedly mistaken by crowds for the Messiah. The plot is quite simple, however, it parodies, among other things, intolerance, sectarianism and dogmatism, showing poisoned internal divisions and petty confrontations, dealing with issues that continue to occur today, such as the denial of reality by fans. Some famous gags feature a fictional "Popular Front of Judea" and its political rivals, the graffiti "Romani ite domum", which is inspired by the famous "Yankees go home", among others, and making use of names, words and modern concepts, supposedly pronounced in Latin.

A few days before the filming of Life of Brian began in Tunisia, the president of EMI Films read the script for the film. He called the story "obscene and sacrilegious," refusing to finance it. In the discussion with the manager who had given the go-ahead to the Monty Python project, Bernard Delfont uttered a few words that are still remembered for their unintentional comic content: "I won't allow people to say that I made fun of the fucking Jesus Christ".

It was ex-beatle George Harrison, a friend of the group of comedians, who finally saved the project, although to do so he had to create his own production company and mortgage his house and a recording studio. At that time Harrison stated that he simply wanted to see a movie like that. As Eric Idle put it, financing the three million pounds the film cost was "the most expensive movie ticket in the world." Although George Harrison did not collaborate on the soundtrack for this film, he did do so years later for another Monty Python film, contributing a theme for The Meaning of Life. In the film, the musician appears in an uncredited cameo, dressed in a robe, in a scene alongside John Cleese.

With the choice of the protagonist, in addition to getting Graham Chapman to moderate his addiction to alcohol and be able to play the role of Brian, Monty Python managed to define the key character of the parody. Using Jesus Christ directly as a character was ruled out. They were not trying to do "The life of Jesus of Nazareth," since it would have "stolen" the leading role to the script. After an initial stage of brainstorming, and despite not being believers, they agreed that Jesus was "definitely a nice guy" and they found nothing to make fun of in his actual teachings: "It's not particularly funny, what he's saying isn't ridiculous, it's a very decent thing," Eric Idle said later. "Jesus Christ was not funny," Terry Jones said years later in a Channel 4 documentary. "The comedy was in the interpretation of the gospels," he said, which is why they created the character of Brian, a contemporary of Jesus who suffered many of the situations that surround religion. And that, as his mother said, "he is not the Messiah, he is just a naughty boy." Without noticing it, they solved one of the biggest legal problems they could have had after the premiere.

Premiere and impact

After its release in the UK, the film was never seen in Ireland and Norway, where it was even banned. During the premiere in Sweden there were posters that said: "This film is so funny that it has been banned in Norway". There were protest demonstrations, including one by an association of New York rabbis. The complaints, as is often the case in these cases, were beneficial to the box office, and the film soon went to 600 theaters. That year it was the highest grossing British film in the US, close to $20 million. It was the first Monty Python film to receive an R-Rating in the United States, that is, "Suitable for ages 17 and older". In Spain it premiered in October 1980 in the original version with subtitles, and classified for people over 18 years of age. The Life of Brian was the fifth highest-grossing film in Spain in 1980. In Madrid it ran for two years in the now-defunct Madrid Cinemas, where Monty Python themselves later unveiled a commemorative plaque. It was dubbed into Spanish in 1985 for its premiere on video, and for its subsequent re-release in movie theaters in 1990.

In the UK, the scandal did nothing but boost box office numbers. Brian's life was going to face the biggest challenge in terms of fighting censorship. Just two years earlier, the Gay News newspaper had been denounced for publishing a poem describing what a Roman centurion imagines during the crucifixion of Christ; the director of the publication was sentenced to nine months in prison. The movie was rated 14+, which in itself was a defeat for its critics. But in the end it was the municipalities that decided whether or not to allow its distribution. Some vetoed it, but not many. That year, "The Life of Brian" It was the fourth grossing film in the country.

Terry Jones said "there was never a time when they decided not to do something that might seem blasphemous," though they were never concerned with theological issues. Terry Gilliam later commented that by the age of 16 he had already read the Bible twice, "but then I decided that education is better than religion."

Based on these protests, the BBC prepared a documentary. An important moment in it deals with the televised debate on the BBC program Friday Night, Saturday Morning in which John Cleese and Michael Palin participated in front of two critics, the Catholic journalist Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark, Mervyn Stockwood. The members of Monty Python provided the most serious reflections, while their antagonists opted for quick and witty responses. The dramatic device of creating Brian was decisive in keeping Monty Python out of court. In the end, only a protest campaign was left led by Mary Whitehouse, a British moralist activist of the time, renowned for her constant and harsh criticism of the BBC for the alleged immoral content of some of its programs.