Monty Python's Life of Brian

[Shinmaru]

Yes, the Monty Python film that's [i]better[/i] than Holy Grail. :)

I first saw Life of Brian a few months ago. My dad has it on DVD, and I liked Holy Grail a ton when I first saw it, so he told me to go watch Life of Brian. I liked it a lot, but as is always the case with me, I didn't fully appreciate the humor on my first viewing.

Fast forward to about a week ago. My sister had finally seen Holy Grail (she wanted to watch it after her teacher showed a bit of it during her AP European History class - how cool is [i]that[/i]?), and she wanted to watch Life of Brian. I popped the movie into the DVD player, and we both proceeded to laugh like crazy during the entire movie. It was so awesome.

Quick primer, Life of Brian takes place during the time of Jesus Christ. Brian is a young man who hates the Romans, and hates being under their oppressive rule. He joins the People's Front of Judea ([i]not[/i] the Judean People's Front), and things happen from there. Eventually, Brian is mistaken for the Messiah (i.e. Jesus Christ), and he ends up with a cadre of people who wish to become his followers. This freaks him out, understandably, as Brian does not want to lead a bunch of people.

That's only a taste of what happens in the movie, though. The whole thing is so funny, from [spoiler]the stoning with all of the woman dressed up as men so that they can attend[/spoiler] to [spoiler]Pontius Pilate and his "fwiend in Wome named Biggus Dickus"[/spoiler], the movie is jam-packed with hilarious stuff. It's not [i]quite[/i] as obviously laugh out loud funny as Holy Grail, I think, unless you're able to appreciate the brilliant satire of the movie.

Oh, and what brilliant satire it is. Obviously, it is a satire of Christianity, but what makes the movie so great is that it satirizes not the religion itself, but some of the obsessive kooks who follow it. [spoiler]The people arguing over Brian's shoe and the gourd that he bought are the funniest examples of this. I'd say that's the Python Crew's explanation for all of the different denominations of Christianity lol.[/spoiler] What's even better about it is that it's not done mean-spiritedly; if you go into it with an open mind, I don't see how any of the religious material could really offend you. I thought that it was expertly done, and very funny.

Lastly, I could not end this without mentioning the ending, which is one of my favorites for any movie. [spoiler]Eric Idle's "Bright Side of Life" is absolutely [i]perfect[/i] for the scene, and so side-splittingly hilarious for the situation. Everyone is going to die a slow, suffocating death on crucifixes over the next few days, yet they are all singing to Brian about looking on the "bright side of life". It's so great lol.[/spoiler]

Anyway, that's enough from me. Who else has seen the movie? Did you like it? Dislike it?

And remember everyone - always look on the bright side of life. :)

[PWNED]

Yes i have seen this movie and I have to say that I found this to be equal funniest Monty Python movie, Mostly because I go to a christian school and this take on the life of JESUS. Easily my favourite bits are done by Pochius Pilate because of his Lisp, "Woderwick, Bwian, Wudolp the Wed Nosed Weindeer" It is just hilarious with the bit when Brian meets Pilate and their coversation. I just found myself cracking up with all the Biggus Dickus jokes although I cannot remember the name of his wife.

If you can help me out with that bit then I will be happy. Another classic bit is the scene with the suicide squad or the colliseum bit.

[Shinmaru]

[quote name='Pontius Pilate']He has a wife, you know. Do you know what she's called? She's called... Incontinentia. Incontinentia Buttocks.[/quote]

:D

Yeah, Pilate's and Biggus Dickus' lisps are so ridiculous that they're really hilarious. I wonder if they just just decided to give them lisps for the hell of it, or if there was some real reason behind that? lol

I think most of my favorite scenes in the movie involve Reg, the leader of the People's Front of Judea. Lines like "What Jesus fails to realize is that the meek are the problem" are just gold, haha. And I love that he hates the Romans so much, yet his group is so inactive and unwilling to do anything about it, despite what Reg says. Silly Judean bureaucracies.

[TheShinje]

Life of Brian was a good movie. Funyn as hell.

I'm a Christian, and none of the religious motivated jokes and gags bothered me, it was all in good fun and wasn't really demeaning to Christians, except for those who come up with some weird and crazy beliefs [spoiler] the crazy denomination skit helps this point along.[/spoiler]

I like mostly anything Python, like Holy grail and the series (Flying Circus.) The only one I didn't really like was the Meaning of Life, for some reason.

[Billy Shears]

Although I haven't seen the movie, I know George Harrison does the music and makes a cameo in a crowd of people.

But I do have a few friends in my Spanish II class who adore Life of Brian. I heard about the part [spoiler] where Brian writes something on a wall and the police catch him and make him congigate(sp) the verb because he says it wrong. Then he has to write it 100 times on the wall[/spoiler].

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial]Haha, I love this film. Not all the laughs are as obvious as Holy Grail, but that's what makes is so damn good. Easily the best film by the 'Python crew, heheh.

I love the bit where [spoiler]he accidentally made the hermit talk, and, when the hermit goes 'I haven't talked for 20 years and he made me!' (or something along those lines), and everyone goes 'It's a miracle!' despite the fact Brian fuxxored the guy's quest for elightenment.

Or when they going along the line of 'prophets' (before the previous bit), and you have the one guy, in a real drab and boring voice, going 'Be nice to people. Pay your milkman' etc etc, when everyone else is speaking in tongues. It's brilliant, lol. [/spoiler]

You've made me want to see it again now Shin. =P[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Brasil]

[quote name='Shinmaru']Yeah, Pilate's and Biggus Dickus' lisps are so ridiculous that they're really hilarious. I wonder if they just just decided to give them lisps for the hell of it, or if there was some real reason behind that? lol[/quote]
I'd say it's a bit of both.

The movie is trying to portray most of those people as totally incompetent and/or hopelessly, tragically, moronically dense, what with the Gourd vs Shoe sequence, the Verb Conjugation, the Hermit, the PFJ and the JPF, "blessed are the cheesemakers," the cross-dressing stoners (lol)...so I think a case can be made that the reasoning behind the lisps was to further enhance the ineptitude.

But one can't deny that those wacky Pythonians were...well, wacky, so I'm sure "just for the hell of it" had something to do with it, too.

So, yeah. I'd say a bit of both.

I'm particularly fond of the "I want to be one...I want to have babies" bit. Just priceless. "Don't you be repressing me, Reg."

[Shinmaru]

[QUOTE=Siren]I'd say it's a bit of both.

The movie is trying to portray most of those people as totally incompetent and/or hopelessly, tragically, moronically dense, what with the Gourd vs Shoe sequence, the Verb Conjugation, the Hermit, the PFJ and the JPF, "blessed are the cheesemakers," the cross-dressing stoners (lol)...so I think a case can be made that the reasoning behind the lisps was to further enhance the ineptitude.

But one can't deny that those wacky Pythonians were...well, wacky, so I'm sure "just for the hell of it" had something to do with it, too.

So, yeah. I'd say a bit of both.

I'm particularly fond of the "I want to be one...I want to have babies" bit. Just priceless. "Don't you be repressing me, Reg."[/QUOTE]

That makes a lot of sense.

I love that part, too. "You have no womb! Where is the fetus going to gestate? Are you going to keep it in a box??" That whole exchange was just golden lol. I love the People's Front of Judea.

[O-Ushi]

To be perfectly honest, it's probably the most accurate movie about the life of Jesus out there...at least about the cultural climate. they have heavily researched the different groups and factions wihin the society at the time. The People's Front of Judea are the zeaots (which literally translates into the term "keen men" or "dagger men," as they used to run up behind any Roman guards they see and stab them) are always trying to oust the Romans in one way o another. In the opening scene (where everyone is listening to Jesus give his Sermon on the Mount) the man with the ubrelaa who's always tellin everyone not to take it literally obvious represents the Saducees (the most educated and "enllightened" of all the people of the time, who the Romans considered intellectual equals and often sought them for guidance).

Also, it does have a little dig not just at Christian, but at Christian movies with their character's reactions to Crucifixion. They see these millions of Christian movies making out the crucifixion to be a rare, horrendous event (don't even get me started on the [I]Passion of the Christ[/I]), but they know that crucifixion was a fairly standard (if somewhat horrendous) method of execution. By saying "Welll, crucfiixion's a doddle, isn't it?" they challenge many people's misconceptions that Jesus was one of only a handful of people crucified.

Also, the movie is [I]horrendously[/I] funny.