Brian & The Real World

Although the Pythons weren’t always recognized for it, they were very good at parody of both the real world and fiction. Their previously-mentioned and ever-famous “Ministry of Silly Walks” skit can be inferred as a commentary on the British government and how some branches get a lack of funding compared to other, perhaps more important ones. As with another famous toga comedy movie, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), Life of Brian is filled with references and parodies of other movies in the genre. One of the most immediately recognizable scenes that is in-and-of a parody is near the end of the film, when the guards come to release Brian from crucifixion. When asking who among the crosses is “Brian of Nazareth,” all the similarly condemned men began saying that they are Brian of Nazareth, a scene that directly references Stanley Kubrick’s Spatacus (1960) and it’s famous “I’m Spartacus!” moment. Another instance of parody is when Brian is taken to be a messiah by the crowd that has formed around his rambles. When he flees the guards, he finds himself followed by the mass of people in a scene that resembles the typical toga movie chase scene seen in movies such as Quo Vadis (1951) and Ben-Hur (1959), although this one being on foot instead of in horse-drawn chariots. These kinds of references help to break the movie away from the repetition of its standard joke formula while still being funny and, as a bonus, appeal to the in-crowd of people who are very familiar with toga movies.

Although the movie does not parody the real world much at all, it does leave the viewer with very real messages and themes. What happens to Brian throughout the film may seen like a constant stream of misfortune and misunderstands, but Brian receives his fair share of lucky happenings as well. He is able to escape from Pontius Pilate thanks to his rant about Biggus Dickus, manages to narrowly avoid getting caught by Roman soldiers when they raid the People’s Front of Judea’s base of operations, and most notably, he ends up spending the night with Judith after getting chased around by his crowd of followers. Although all of his friends and family end up failing him in the end, one of his fellow prisoners reminds both him, and the audience, that even though he has had unrelenting bad luck, there is always a brighter side of life to look on. It may be difficult to recognize the message of the ending scene behind it’s layers of irony, it becomes quite poignant when thinking about Brian’s life and comparing it to the life of the person watching, who has likely equally felt much fortune and misfortune alike, felt betrayed, have had things or people fail them, but has still had something good to look back or forward to despite their misery. These very real ideas make the film seem like far more than an absurdity-ridden romp through Judea.

Unfortunately, despite the movie’s incredibly strong ideas and comedy, it was not always very well received. The film came under a large amount of controversy during it’s original run. In its home country, Britain, several cuts were forced to be made before the movie was deemed allowed a general release, and even despite this, the movie received very poor press from the BBC, who lampooned the film as blasphemy. Even worse, the movie was outright banned in some parts of the UK and Europe, such as Finland, and even saw protests in America upon its overseas release. Unfortunately for the people enforcing these bans, the Streisand effect kicked in full gear, and the movie’s popularity was only bolstered. In Sweden, the movie was advertised as being “So funny, it was banned in Norway!” The film eventually proceeded past the controversy that dominated it during it’s original release and is now rightfully seen as one of the greatest toga movies and comedy movies of its time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3UGk9QhoIw