Monty Python’s Life of Brian was humorous, poked fun at religion, and also super hard to understand for my American self. I’m a pretty visual person, who prefers to have subtitles, so trying to listen to and decipher the accents was challenging, especially considering that there were no subtitles in the version we watched. To be honest, I feel like this took away from the overall viewing experience for me, but there were moments that I really enjoyed despite that.
The plot makes fun of the life of Jesus Christ, creating a “what if” scenario where an everyday man named Brian is mistaken as the Messiah. Brian’s life events parallel Jesus Christ, and out of coincidence/bad luck he ends up taking the role we have come to know as Jesus’. When the film was released, it was a great success in the box office, and it is still held in high regard by many- it has been suggested as a nominee for the greatest comedy film of all time. However, BBC and ITV both refused to show it, not wanting to offend Christians living in the United Kingdom. It was also banned for periods of time in Ireland and Norway.
I personally feel that the arguments critics make against the movie are weak- lots of controversy came from the scene of Brian’s crucifixion at the end of the movie. Critics claimed that it made light of Jesus’ suffering, and made it seem like something that wasn’t torturous. Sure, they made plenty of jokes about crucifixion- but those weren’t insults toward Jesus Christ? This movie is so obviously a satire to me that I really can’t wrap my head around it being considered “blasphemy.” Maybe it’s because I’m not all that religious, but I think that people took this movie (which wasn’t even about Jesus… it was a funny “what if” about someone living in Jesus’ time) way too seriously. There aren’t claims that Jesus wasn’t real, that Jesus didn’t do acts of good, that he wasn’t the powerful and influential figure he was and continues to be in modern day. Members of Monty Python spoke on how the movie was about the way that society received, and could misinterpret, God’s/Jesus’ message. It’s more a criticism of society, and of members of the Christian religion, than anything else. Blasphemous? I don’t think so. Offensive to Christians that lack self-awareness and basic ability to reason? Maybe.