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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed by Terry Jones Produced by John Goldstone Written by and Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones & Michael Palin UK 93 min. Rated R Special Features: Immaculately re-mastered in high definition. The Story of Brian documentary. An original illustrated 110-minute recording of the screenplay in progress. Commentary by Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle & Terry Jones; John Cleese & Michael Palin. Original radio ads. Deleted scenes. English & Portuguese subtitles To say that Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a satire or mockery of Jesus Christ isn’t entirely accurate. The Pythons aren’t out necessarily to slam J.C.’s words of peace, far from it. What they are out to make fun of, more than anything, is groupthink, the blind allegiance to one figure or another without listening to what the figure really has to say, which still makes some foam at the mouth and others to argue (as in here) over whether or not to call one group the Judean Peoples’ Front or the People’s Front of Judea. Brian (the film’s straight man, Graham Chapman) is born in Bethlehem in the stable next door to the baby Jesus, confusing the Three Kings. Fast forward to 33 A.D.: Brian gets caught up in the People’s Front of Judea (or, you know, the other way around), fighting against the Roman Empire, and wackiness ensues in typical Python fashion, leading to the point when Brian is suddenly seen as the new messiah – a fact he learns one morning standing stark naked in front of an open window, with hundreds of people waiting for him below. Per usual, the Pythons demonstrate a God given knack (forgive the pun) of taking on multiple characterizations, sometimes even in the same scene. Terry Jones, for example, plays Brian’s mother, Simon the holy man, and a crucifixion assistant, while Michael Palin plays a dozen parts (estimated by IMDb.com; I lost count). His funniest, Pontius Pilate, brilliantly sends up the brain-numbing pontification of infamous figures from religious Hollywood blockbusters from the 1950s. But throughout, the Pythons keep skewering the right targets, without taking any cheap shots at what Jesus actually said. It’s not an attack on Christianity as the controversy stood nearly 30 years ago when the film was released. It’s a mix of slapstick, surrealism (Brian’s sudden trip with space aliens), absurdism (the stoning scene, one of the funniest Python’s ever done), and musical humor (the “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” number, co-opted for the stage musical Monty Python’s Spamalot) meant to take on those who cause a religion to go completely wacko. Those most offended probably don’t get the joke might be on them. For everyone else, Python-heads most especially, it’s a heavenly string of classic skits put into a context of an actual plot – more-so than in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
DVD Extras: It might be important for some to realize that this isn’t the first time a special edition disc of the comedy has been released.
Years ago, Criterion released an edition with an on-location documentary, The Pythons, and the theatrical trailer, which aren’t on the new
DVD. And yet it would be advantageous for a diehard fan of Python and the film to seek out the new Immaculate Edition, even for those who
may have the Criterion disc (and more particularly for those who don’t). For one thing, it has the same commentary tracks (one with Gilliam, Idle and
Jones, the other with Cleese and Michael Plain), the five deleted scenes (including one with Pilate’s wife), and original radio ads by
“Mrs. Cleese, Mrs. Idle, Mrs. Gilliam, and Michael Palin’s dentist.” But new to this edition is an hour-long The Story of Brian documentary,
with new interviews and resurfaced clips, and a storyboard-illustrated 110-minute recording of a read-through of one of the early drafts. This edition
not only outranks the previous one for extras but includes a new high-definition transfer, an improvement from the last one.
Jack Gattanella
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