If you’re looking to escape the heatwave, you could settle down with one of cinema’s best loved and most controversial comedies.
Back in 1979, Monty Python’s Life of Brian was met with furore when it hit the big screen, with fans today still hailing it the funniest film ever, while some at the time slammed it as ‘blasphemous’.
Whether it’s asking ‘what have the Romans ever done for us?’, shouting ‘Blessed are the cheesemakers’ or whistling along to Always Look On the Bright Side of Live, the film’s legacy lives on.
Luckily for fans in the UK, it’s available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube and Google Play Movie for £3.49.
The iconic movie, which has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 96%, starred Graham Chapman as Brian, an ordinary man living in Roman-occupied Judea at the same time as Jesus.
His mother insisted he was simply a ‘very naughty boy’, but Brian found himself mistaken for the messiah as comedy ensued.
Despite the Pythons turning a satirical eye on political militants, the idea of stoning people to death, and speech impediments, it was the link to Jesus and Christianity that sparked outrage.
At the time, Rabbi Abraham Hecht – President of the Rabbinical Alliance of America – told Variety: ‘Never have we come across such a foul, disgusting, blasphemous film before.’
Indeed, the film was even banned in Ireland, Norway, and beyond, while picketers outside screenings claimed Monty Python’s serpentine name was linked to Satan.
Michael Palin once pointed out back in 1979 that the comedy troupe deliberately decided against making the film about Jesus himself – but not for the reason you’d expect.
‘It was quite obvious that there was very little to ridicule in Jesus’s life, and therefore we were onto a loser,’ he said. ‘Jesus was a very straight, direct man making good sense, so we decided it would be a very shallow film if it was just about [him].’
Studios shied away from the project regardless, but George Harrison – who was at the centre of similar backlash when John Lennon declared The Beatles to be ‘more popular than Jesus’ in 1966 – decided to help fund the film, which he simply wanted to see.
During the Fab Four’s controversy, he quipped to the Evening Standard: ‘Why is there all this stuff about blasphemy.
‘If Christianity’s as good as they say it is, it should stand up to a bit of discussion.’
Almost five decades after its release, Life of Brian – which also starred Pythons John Cleese, Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gillian and Eric Idle in various roles – is hailed almost as a British institution.
‘Irreverent, brilliantly observed and finely crafted with a significant twist of madness and surrealism – by far Python’s crew best work,’ wrote Niall L on Google Reviews.
And fellow fan Paul Bury raved: ‘A shame that it has been seen as blasphemous by some – when in reality, it is a reflection, critique and irony of many of today’s problems in the world.
‘So much truth exposed and ridiculed, so many hidden messages (and some not so hidden) in an entertaining and intelligent script. Timeless comedy!’
While fan Yurriaan Van Duyn added: ‘Its clever script, bold performances and fearless approach to taboo subjects make it a timeless classic.’
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