Just a week after Easter, the Criterion Collection have re-released one of their earlier titles on Blu-ray and UHD. The movie in question in Monty Python’s religious satire Life Of Brian. Released in 1979, the movie was controversial for its time. Now more than four decades later, the movie is now celebrated as one of the greatest comedy movies ever made. The new release from Criterion does this film justice and restoration looks amazing.
A Little Bit Of History
In the mid 1970s, Monty Python were riding off the success of their second theatrical release Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When thinking of how they would follow it up, the group decided to go with Eric Idle’s idea: Jesus Christ: Lust For Glory. The group wrote the final script while on vacation in Bardbados in January 1978. EMI Films had originally agreed to finance the movie, as they had done the same with Holy Grail. Just days before production started, Bernard Delfont (head of EMI) pulled away the finances from the movie due to the movie’s subject matter. Former Beatle George Harrison, a friend to Eric Idle and the rest of the group, had read the script. Harrison, a fan of Python’s work, decided to finance the movie with business partner Denis O’Brien. Together, the two would create Handmade Films, an independent film company that would go on to release other critically acclaimed movies such as Withnail & I, The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. Life Of Brian would be the company’s first movie.
The Movie
Life Of Brian is about a young Judean man named Brian Cohen, a man who was born on the same day as Jesus. Now 33 years old, Brian is looking for purpose in his life. This search for purpose leads him on a wild ride, being mistaken as the Messiah time and time again.
Life Of Brian is not only a religious satire but it’s also a parody of the history-based epic movies. In these movies, the characters would tend to speak dramatically. While only about 90 minutes, Life Of Brian feels like one of those epic movies. The movie was filmed in Tunisia, which is where the mini series Jesus of Nazareth was filmed. As a religious satire, the movie takes a jab at Christianity and finds the humor in what people during the time of Jesus would’ve been like. The movie was seen as controversial for its time, although most of the people calling for its ban had not seen the movie. Looking at the movie now, the movie is barely offensive. While there are some daring takes and jokes on religion in this movie, it probably wasn’t the intention of Monty Python to hurt or offend these people.
As a comedy, Life Of Brian is filled with great scenes/moments: the slapstick stoning scene, Pontius Pilate’s speech impediment, the People’s Front of Judea and their activism, the haggling scene. The list goes on and on. While not as quotable as Holy Grail, there are some memorable lines in this movie that’ve become part of the Python lexicon. As far as acting goes, all of the members of Monty Python give great performances in their many roles. Graham Chapman plays the titular role of Brian, which is a major 180 from his role in The Holy Grail as King Arthur. Whereas King Arthur exuded confidence, Brian is a nervous wreck throughout most of the movie. There’s also Terry Jones, who plays Brian’s mother Mandy, who steals almost every scene that she’s in.
While a masterwork of a comedy movie, Life Of Brian isn’t without its downsides. For the most part, Monty Python are usually remembered for their various skits. Even in their movies, the scenes of the movies can be seen as five or six different longer Flying Circus skits. Life Of Brian is the lone movie that group made with consistent narrative. While one could argue that Holy Grail told a story from beginning to end, the knights all had their own “tales.” In Life Of Brian, there are no various skits. With that, the movie can get a bit repetitive in parts. Despite this, Life of Brian manages to be an entertaining and hilarious movie.
Bonus Features
This release of Life Of Brian has two discs, with one consisting entirely of the bonus features. They are as follows:
– audio commentaries from the members of Monty Python
– The Pythons (1979), a 45 minute documentary made for the 10th anniversary for the group which was filmed on the set of Life Of Brian
– The Story of Brian (2007), an hour long documentary about the making of the movie
– Super 8 films narrated by Michael Palin
– Five deleted scenes with commentary
– Original British radio ads
– A recording with the an early reading of the entire script, with the script as the visual
– Animated stills gallery
– Trailer
– Essay from film critic Bilge Ebiri
Of these features, it looks like the Super 8 films are brand new. The Pythons hasn’t been any previous release of the movie while everything else has been released before. Of them, The Story Of Brian is a good overview of the making of the movie. The deleted scenes were actually on the original 1997 Criterion DVD. Sadly, they haven’t been cleaned up.
Conclusion
As a whole, Criterion’s new release of Life Of Brian is the most thorough home video release of the movie to date. While it would’ve been nice to have more new stuff, the amount of material on here is remarkable. Even if you already own the movie on Blu-Ray, upgrade to the new Criterion release.
Movie Rating: 7.5/10
Release Rating: 8/10
I'm a writer/journalist with a passion for music and pop culture. Having graduated from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 2014, I've been looking for a platform in which I can share my passions. Since 2009, I've been posting to my own blog- The Walrus' Music Blog- via Blogger. I'm also the author of two self-published books, "The Camp: Stories from the Summer" and "The College: Stories from King's." Together, the two books cover the story of my life from 2004 to 2014. I've been lucky enough to interview several of my favorite musicians over the years and go to concerts from time to time. I'm also very devoted to the CBS reality TV show Survivor, which I started watching in 2002 when its fourth season started. I currently live in New Jersey.