Finding God in Monty Python

Yeah, I’m still re-watching Monty Python. This time it’s . . .

Sorry, something about that word.

This time it’s Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, which just happens to be one of my all time favorite movies. My official movie review is thus: it is very funny, very smart, and hugely entertaining.

All right, that out of the way, I’d like to reminisce a bit. I was but a lad when Brian hit the screens and I remember the controversy it stirred then. People were pretty upset because they thought (wrongly) that the movie mocked Jesus and that it was blasphemous. There were protests, petitions, and letters to the editor. It was banned in three countries, leading to calls of “welease Bwian!” All this did, of course, was to increase the box office. Pickets sell tickets, after all.

But were they right? Is the film blasphemous?

No. It is, I think, heretical, but not blasphemous. Being a heretic myself I can’t that say I mind that.

There’s a message in amongst all the silliness. They come pretty close to stating it explicitly when Brian speaks to his new followers. He’s trying to get them to understand that he is not the Messiah. He says “Look, you’ve got it all wrong. 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!”

If that’s not a heretical concept I don’t know what is. The Pythons lampoon religious hypocrisy and fanaticism with a fake beard and a shoe on a stick. They knock down orthodoxy, gullibility and groupthink. The only things they don’t make fun of are faith and love. Not a lot of laughs there, after all.

Faith and love are, or should be, the pillars of any church. Some churches place hierarchy or their traditional interpretation of scripture above these things. Some are more concerned with arguing about comparatively minor differences of ritual or belief than they are about their true purpose. And some, horribly, are so consumed by hate that they have forgotten about faith and love altogether. It’s enough to make you want to cry.

Or laugh, if you listen to the Pythons. After all –

“Some things in life are bad.
They can really make you mad.
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle,
Don’t grumble, give a whistle.
And this’ll help things turn out for the best.
And . . .
Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the light side of life."

Right then, here are my top ten reasons to watch The Life of Brian:

Admiral Piett on the Mount

The stoning

Biggus Dickus

The Judean People’s Front

The Latin lesson

Naked Judith (or naked Graham, if you are so inclined)

“He’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty boy!”

Cleese’s centurion

“You going to keep it in a box?”

Eric’s song.