Come and See the Violence Inherent in the System

Rating: 10/10 (23 August 2002)

While many agree this film is a comedy classic, few may realize it is also a mythological and historical classic.
One of the things I love about the Pythons is the many levels on which their comedy works. As a child I loved the slapstick of the monks whacking themselves in the head with boards (or is it Bibles?), the Black Knight refusing to give way at the bridge when challenged, the funny weird people digging in the mud.
As an adult I then marvelled at the intelligent and hilarious satire of religious and political subjects of which I had no inkling when I first fell in love with this film: The monks are penitents, and no crazier that many of their true-history contemporaries. The Black Knight is a psychopathic serial killer. The mud people are Fir Bolg members of an Anarchist commune (or is it Socialist? Anarcho-Syndicalist?) and the Knights are riding along Hadrian's Wall.
Even later in life now, as a Celtic scholar, I'm again impressed by their knowledge of myth and history, and by how well they not only satirize, but further illuminate, The Matter of Britain.
This film should be required viewing for all classes in Celtic Studies, World Mythology, Marxist Thought in the 20th Century, Folklore, The Applied Sciences, Astronomy, Folk Dancing, Fencing, Witch Hunting, Archery, Shrubbery, Moose Hunting, Religious History and Anarcho-Syndicalist Communes.