Okay, so Terry Gilliam did not direct this full-length feature of Monty Python. He does, however, play a prophet, a jailor and several other minor roles.
Tonight the Loew Thursday film series will feature Monty Python's "Life of Brian," a film that pokes fun at the greatest messiah in Western history... and pretty much everyone else as well.
Brian, played by Graham Chapman, was only a baby boy when he had his first adventure in life. As a Jew born in a manger in Bethlehem, he is visited by three wise men ... who also happen to have a poor sense of direction.
Because it is only after his crazy mother, played by director Terry Jones in drag, gladly accepts their gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense, that they reclaim their gifts and go to another manger further down the street: the one that is emanating holiness -- the one in which Baby Jesus lies.
So Brian's life begins on an odd note, for it is not too common to be mistaken for Jesus, not even back in the Roman-occupied Palestine.
Brian's life continues to follow strange paths. As an adult, he finds himself involved with a terrorist organization known as the Peoples Front of Judea (not to be mistaken with the Judean People Front).
He and his cohorts secretly plan the future of the state, discussing such treasonous topics as a man's right to bear children and the wonders the Roman Empire has brought to Palestine.
At one crucial point in his effort to subvert the Romans in power, Brian finds himself painting graffiti on the palace walls, reading "Romans Go Home."
Lucky for the Romans, guards catch him and prevent this travesty, for it is only they who can correct his grammar and order him to repeat the graffiti (under their supervision) until he gets it right.
So the film has so far poked fun at the Roman Empire, politicians, the story of Jesus' birth and several other semi-sacred topics. But why stop there, asks the British comedy troupe?
Brian's escape from Roman guards turns him into a messiah whose every act is a sacred message. His words are taken as gospel.
"You are all individuals!" he tells his followers. "We are all individuals" they repeat in unison. Finally, when Brian gets too big for his britches, he is "condemned to the cross by a foppish Pontius Pilate," according to Variety Magazine.
And after a riotous laugh at the expense of the obscenely named Biggus Dickus, also played by Graham Chapman, Brian finds himself on the cross with several dozen other men. The film ends on a bizarre note as the condemned men join together for a rendition of the "Bright Side of Life."
Hailed as a triumph for the Python troupe and standing up to the mastery of "The Holy Grail," "Life of Brian" gained much critical acclaim upon its release in 1979.
Some, however, did not find the humor in it. Ernest Leogrande of the New York Post said Python's "irreverence in this movie can be seen as a sly commentary on humanity's capacity for meanness, cruelty and self-deception."
Rabbi Abraham Hecht called the film the most "foul, disgusting, blasphemous" work he had ever seen.
But this will most likely not be your reaction. Python has put together a hilarious romp through Judea, attacking everyone in good fun -- top that off with the beautiful Tunisian location, and Monty Python's "Life of Brian" is an absolute winner.
