Monty Python’s Life of Brian is one of the funniest movies ever made, and also one of the most controversial, understandably so, given that it was released in the 70s and is basically a blasphemous mockery of the Jesus story. Some find it less harsh towards Christianity than their later work, The Meaning of Life, which featured the famous tune highlighting the absurdity of a certain Catholic doctrine, “Every Sperm is Sacred.” I think Life of Brian may be more sympathetic to the religious, although there are certainly many Christians who would beg to differ.
One of the most brilliant moments of the movie comes when a huge crowd of Brian’s followers, believing him to be the Messiah, gather at his window to hear him speak, repeating every word he says as if it’s literally gospel. He tells them to stop following him, that they’re all individuals. They reply, in unison, “Yes, we’re all individuals!” The mob mentality of popular religion has never been captured so perfectly, and hilariously. And that’s just one example of a movie offering an alternative take on one of the many messianic figures who were actually believed to exist around the same time as good old JC. By the time one of the other crucified criminals tells Jesus to cheer up and goes on to sing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” my stomach is always aching from laughter.
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