Monty Python's Life of Brian

Monty Python's Life of Brian
NOW YOU LISTEN HERE! HE'S NOT THE MESSIAH! HE'S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY! NOW GO AWAY!
Genre: Comedy Directed by: Terry Jones Produced by: John Goldstone Written by: Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin Starring: Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin Cinematography: Peter Biziou Editing: Julian Doyle Music by: Geoffrey Burgon Production company: HandMade Films Python (Monty) Pictures Distributed by: Cinema International Corporation Release date: 17 August 1979 (United States) 8 November 1979 (United Kingdom) Runtime: 94 minutes Country: United Kingdom Language: English Budget: $4 million Box office: $20.7 million

'Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British religious satire comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin) who also did the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail. It was also directed by Jones. The film tells the story of Brian Cohen (played by Chapman), a young Jewish man who is born on the same day as, and next door to, Jesus Christ, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.

Plot

The story of Brian of Nazareth, born on the same day as Jesus of Nazareth, who takes a different path in life that leads to the same conclusion. Brian joins a political resistance movement aiming to get the Romans out of Judea. Brian scores a victory of sorts when he manages to paint political slogans on an entire wall in the city of Jerusalem. The movement is not very effective but somehow Brian becomes a prophet and gathers his own following. His fate is sealed however and he lives a very short life.

Why It Looks On the Bright Side of Life

1. Many funny scenes like Biggus Dickus, the stoning scene, and the ending crucifixion scene.
2. Catchy music like "Brian's Song" and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."
3. The ending was amazing thanks to the song that was mentioned in WIR #2.
4. Great acting as it got the right timing for the comedy.
5. Likable characters like Brian.
6. It loves to make fun of religious people. This led to Norway banning the film. The Swedish poster, in response, has the tagline "So funny that it was banned in Norway!".
7. Awesome stop-motion animation of the aliens and the intro.
8. It's how you make religious movies very humorous and original like every other religious movie that is either faithful to the Bible, or something to give people of their religion a laugh and smile.
9. "He's not The Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"

Bad Qualities

1. Depending on your point of view, the ending can be a bit disappointing, as Brian gets crucified.

Trivia

• Many counties in the UK had banned the film at the time, despite it passing for an AA (suitable for people aged 14 or over) certificate by the BBFC. Nowadays it's unbanned everywhere.

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