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'''The Life of Brian''' (1979) was a film made by the [[Monty python]] team.  

'''The Life of Brian''' (1979) was a film made by the [[Monty Python]] team.  

The film was set in first century [[Palestine]] and centred on a character called Brian, whose life paralleled that of [[Jesus Christ]]. It’s now hard to imagine the furore that surrounded the film's release, especially as it appeared to end on such a positive finishing song. Up to that point, no film had received the ferocity or amount of protests by religious groups as the Pythons did. Of course most of the protesters never saw the film – they had only heard rumors <ref> quote from a review: http://www.toxicuniverse.com/review.php?rid=10000748 </ref>.

The film was set in first century [[Palestine]] and centred on a character called Brian, whose life paralleled that of [[Jesus Christ]]. It’s now hard to imagine the furore that surrounded the film's release, especially as it appeared to end on such a positive finishing song. Up to that point, no film had received the ferocity or amount of protests by religious groups as the Pythons did. Of course most of the protesters never saw the film – they had only heard rumors <ref> quote from a review: http://www.toxicuniverse.com/review.php?rid=10000748 </ref>.

[[Image:Lifeofbrianfilmposter.jpg|thumb|200px|right| Film Poster of the 1979 release]]

[[Image:Lifeofbrianfilmposter.jpg|thumb|200px|right| Film Poster of the 1979 release]]

In fact the film went out of its way to depict Jesus, with Brian foregrounded to make the point that this was about an entirely different character.  The film does however satirize both political and religious ideology and what [[John Cleese]] (a leading member of the [[Monty python]] team) called 'closed systems of thinking' <ref> Dyke, Carl., 2002,  "Learning from The Life of Brian: Savior for Seminars."  Screening Scripture: Intertextual Connections Between Scripture and Film. Ed.George Aichele and Richard Walsh. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity </ref>.  There are some wonderful episodes in the film which demonstrate this admirably. The ''"What have the Romans ever done for us?"'' sequence particularly demonstrates how political ideology can blind people to evidence, and the ''"Tell us Master"'' sequence demonstrates within the space of a couple of minutes how religious movements can form, split, and evolve to the point where despite the fact that even the most blatant and abusive insults are being hurled, thinking is twisted around to interpret these statements and insults as revered messages. The ''"You are all different"'' section further demonstrates how rigid thinking blinds followers to the actual text of the message. In this sequence, the film's satire on the unthinking nature of religious devotion is epitomised by Brian's attempt to persuade an enormous crowd of his followers to think for themselves:

In fact the film went out of its way not to depict Jesus as the central character, with Brian foregrounded to make the point that this was about an entirely different person. Jesus Christ appears twice in the film; first at the end of the first scene (The Nativity) when the three wise men realise they haven't visited the wrong stable and go down the road to the stable with Jesis, Mary & Joseph divinely depicted; and the secondly the first scene after the credits when Christ is delivering the Sermon on the Mount.  In this scene the words of Christ are taken from the Bible unaltered and the camera pans back through the crowd to Brian's mother at the back who shouts 'Speak Up'.

 

 

The film does however satirize both political and religious ideology and what [[John Cleese]] (a leading member of the [[Monty python]] team) called 'closed systems of thinking' <ref> Dyke, Carl., 2002,  "Learning from The Life of Brian: Savior for Seminars."  Screening Scripture: Intertextual Connections Between Scripture and Film. Ed.George Aichele and Richard Walsh. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity </ref>.  There are some wonderful episodes in the film which demonstrate this admirably. The ''"What have the Romans ever done for us?"'' sequence particularly demonstrates how political ideology can blind people to evidence, and the ''"Tell us Master"'' sequence demonstrates within the space of a couple of minutes how religious movements can form, split, and evolve to the point where despite the fact that even the most blatant and abusive insults are being hurled, thinking is twisted around to interpret these statements and insults as revered messages. The ''"You are all different"'' section further demonstrates how rigid thinking blinds followers to the actual text of the message. In this sequence, the film's satire on the unthinking nature of religious devotion is epitomised by Brian's attempt to persuade an enormous crowd of his followers to think for themselves:

: '''Brian''': 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!

: '''Brian''': 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!