Classic British Comedy !

Rating: 8/10 (7 June 2018)

Coming from the Monty Python group, Life of Brian is classic British comedy at its best - perhaps one of the most intellectual comedies made. Downright sardonic and profane in its making, Life of Brian is all about Brian who is born on Christmas day in a stable next to Jesus and spends his life being mistaken for a messiah. Brian's life is sketched parallel to that of Jesus, cleverly letting the filmmakers lampoon everything from religious zealotry, mob hysteria, sword/sandal epic movies and some hard hitting political travesty. All the gags and sequences could appear a bit juvenile to those not familiar with the Monty python style of comedy , but the movie is indeed a laugh riot and the makers live up to their earlier hit Monty Python and the Holy Grail with downright clever satirical wit and commentary on totalitarianism, history, politics and most importantly religion. Some scenes to watch out for would be of Brian dropping a gourd and a shoe, his followers absurdly split into two groups, each worshipping a different relic - a hilarious take on the multi sectarian worshipping practices existing today or Brian uttering some gibberish to a crowd out of fear wrapped in some enigma that makes a blind mob follow him as the next prophet. That said and done my favorite part of the movie would be the blatantly original caricature of left-wing resistance groups with their endless subgroups, internal politics, conflicting agendas and vain ideology / speech without any results (ala Sankaradi in Sandesam!). Quite understandably, this flick was banned in many a European country until recent times for the supposedly sacrilegious take on religion (unsurprising with so with many parts parodying nativity, crucifixion et al). However on close watch, it never makes fun of Jesus - but it does thwart the blind, fanatic followers of any political movement or religion in a quite comical fashion. A controversial piece of comedy - a remainder to the critics that banning movies or cutting movie scenes based on religious pretexts exists in Hollywood / British movies as well as early as 1979, and is not limited to the Asian market of Viswaroopam, Padmavat etc.