Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle,
Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, John Young,
Chris Langham, Spike Milligan, Neil Innes
Written by Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones & Palin
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £16.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 90 minutes
Directed by Terry Jones
It regularly appears in the lists and polls of the top 10 funniest films ever made, but I want to put an end to that argument right now — as far as I am concerned, Monty Python's Life of Brian IS, hands down, the funniest film ever made. Period. More so than their other movies (and Holy Grail is definitely in my top five funniest films ever), Brian has storyline that flows beautifully, and is so much more than just a series of (very good) sketches. Even now, almost 30 years after it was made, there are still scenes that have me rolling on the floor, crying with laughter — such as the stoning, or the Latin lesson Brian gets when he's caught writing Romans Go Home on the palace walls. And this new editon, digitally restored (the film does look stunning) comes packed with a wealth of bonus material.
In case you've been living in a cave for the past three decades, the film is about Brian Cohen, who was born in the stable next door to Jesus. In fact, the three wise men briefly mistake him for Jesus and come to praise him, much to the horror of his mother, Mandy. Who, it's safe to say, is clearly no virgin. Fast forward 33 years and the adult Brian is once again mistaken for the messiah, no matter what he says or does to convince his devout followers otherwise. That's the story in a nutshell, but there is so much more to it than that. It was controvesial upon its release, with churches and the right-wing group The Festival of Light (led by arch-moralist and boring old twat Mary Whitehouse) calling for it to be banned and claiming it satirised the life of Jesus Christ, which it clearly doesn't. What Life of Brian does satirise is hypocrisy and organised religion itself — especially people who will blindly follow anyone and do as they are told without question. At its heart, the film is about thinking for yourself. Full of quotable lines ("He's NOT the messiah, he's a very naughty boy") and finishing with one of the cheeriest, most upbeat songs ever recorded, Monty Python's Life of Brian is a film you can watch over and over and never, ever get bored of, unless you have absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever. And if you don't, this is not a film for watching, it's a film for avoiding.
EXTRAS ★★★★ There's a multitude out there. There are two commentary tracks — an older one featuring Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle (which sounds like the three of them were recorded separately ) that has been on previous special editions, and a new one with John Cleese and Michael Palin. You also get a new one-hour documentary, The Story of Brian, which looks at the making of the film as well as the controversy that ensued on its release. There's five deleted scenes (including Otto, leader of the suicide squad); and some original radio ads for the movie with some of the Pythons' mothers. But the best extra is a recently found recording of the very first readthrough of the Life of Brian script by the group, just after the screenplay had been finished. Fantastic stuff indeed. All that's missing here is the very funny fake travelogue, narrated by John Cleese, that was shown before the film in the cinemas, way back when it was first released. I haven't seen it since, and it hasn't appeared in any of the collections.