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'''The Life of Brian''' (1979) was a film made by the [[Monty python]] team. Following the success of their 1975 film '[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]' the python's sought another 'epic' theme to cover. Their chosen project was 'Jesus Christ - Lust for Glory'.  This subsequently evolved into the Life of Brian.  According to the Pythons the more they researched Jesus looking for things he said to satirize they more they realised that the subject matter did not lend itself to satire but that other people's reaction to it did.

'''The Life of Brian''' (1979) was a film made by the [[Monty python]] team. Following the success of their 1975 film '[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]' the python's sought another 'epic' theme to cover. Their chosen project was 'Jesus Christ - Lust for Glory'.  This subsequently evolved into the Life of Brian.  According to the Pythons the more they researched Jesus looking for things he said to satirize they more they realised that the subject matter did not lend itself to satire but that other people's reaction to it did.

The Python team always denied categorically that the film satirized the life of Jesus.<ref> The Pythons always countered accusations of blasphemy by remarking it was simply an allegorical tale of people who follow religions without question.  “We worked very hard not to blaspheme — because it’s really about this guy next door — but the bishop of Southwark didn’t understand this, Malcolm Muggeridge didn’t understand it and the people of America didn’t understand it either; but my mother, who’s an avid churchgoer, had no problem with it.” quote taken from http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/sydenham/306/mplob.html</ref>

The Python team always denied categorically that the film satirized the life of Jesus.<ref> The Pythons always countered accusations of blasphemy by remarking it was simply an allegorical tale of people who follow religions without question.  “We worked very hard not to blaspheme — because it’s really about this guy next door — but the bishop of Southwark didn’t understand this, Malcolm Muggeridge didn’t understand it and the people of America didn’t understand it either; but my mother, who’s an avid churchgoer, had no problem with it.” quote taken from http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/sydenham/306/mplob.html</ref>

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 have visited the wrong stable and go down the road to the stable with Jesus, 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'.

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 have visited the wrong stable and go down the road to the stable with Jesus, 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'.