This Will Make You A Better Person!

Rating: 10/10 (9 November 2002)

Monty Python are the grand masters of silliness, something they have elevated to an art over the course of numerous skits, shows and now a second feature film. For all the madness on display throughout this insane film, their greatest joke is that they have managed to create a genuine and priceless work of art.
Life of Brian tells not the story of Jesus of Nazareth, but of the kid down the street, born on the same night in one of many hilarious twists on the the gospels. We catch up with him in his early thirties, as he gets caught up in religious fanaticism, terrorist plots and Roman repression. This sounds like the outline to a gritty historical epic, and Life of Brian's greatest strength is that it sticks pretty closely to a certain formula while exploiting the utter fundamental ridiculousness of every single situation, with an all-encompassing generosity that leaves nobody unscathed: organized religion takes a heavy hit, as do the feckless occupying Romans.
The real genius of Life of Brian is that everything works on at least a dual level, and what is funny on the surface is often just as silly or even quite frightening at a deeper level. Consider one of the most classic scenes: women go to a stoning, a privilege their religion reserves to men, so they all buy fake beards in order to attend and participate... except all the actors playing women are played by men! So in that one representative example you have a biting indictment of religious double-standard, an unparalleled level of silliness, and some meta humor, all neatly bound together. The film glories in its own madness with such glee that it even manages not to rub your face in how clever it actually is, a very rare gift indeed!
In this age of religious tension and political correctness, it is all the more precious to have a voice cry out and throw such well-aimed mud in all directions without discriminating. To so while being so entertaining is even more remarkable.
This is essential viewing. Not only will it make you cry with laughter - one of the real pleasures worth living for - it will also raise important questions. And, however you choose to answer those, you will always have that unlikely staircase chase ending in an alien abduction, something so stupid even the Pope would have to crack a smile.