Welcome to The Best Movies I’ve Never Seen! This is the part of the blog where I work my way through 100 films I’ve never seen that are generally considered to be great. You’re invited to watch along with me if you can find a copy or find it streaming. So grab some popcorn and let’s get started!

Monty Python’s Life of Brian

1979

Directed by Terry Jones

Quick synopsis… Born in a stable in Judea, Brian grows up to join a group of anti-Roman zealots, but his fate keeps getting confused with that of a certain carpenter.

• My only experience with Monty Python thus far has been Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• I’ve also seen a clip of that ministry of funny walks bit they did on TV.
• But that’s about it.
• But I assume this movie will be a comedy.
• And let me tell you… a comedy is more than welcome at this time.
• The last comedy I had on this list was Blazing Saddles.
• That was nine weeks ago…
• That’s a long time to go with so many serious films.
• Knowing nothing about this movie, I decided to do some reading on the Wikipedia.
• Apparently it was a bit of a controversy back in the day and was banned from being shown in certain countries due to the subject matter.
• There was even talk of the film being blasphemous.
• Guess I’m about to find out how blasphemous it is…
• I mean, it starts out with three wise men showing up to worship the infant Brian, confusing him for baby Jesus.
• Apparently they were born near one another.
• Some 30 years later, Brian and his mother are standing toward the back of a crowd listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
• Then they go to a stoning.
• Brian joins up with a group that wants to rid their lands of the Romans.
• I couldn’t help but laugh when they were discussing why they wanted to get rid of the Romans and kept bringing up all the good things that Roman rule has brought to Judea.
• Brian is captured by guards when his group tries to kidnap Pontius Pilate’s wife, but he manages to escape.
• As he’s fleeing, he falls off the top of an unfinished tower and is caught by an alien spacecraft.
• Uh… aliens?
• I don’t get it.
• Is that a British humor thing?
• Anyway, Brian tries to blend in with a bunch of false prophets in the city by repeating bits and pieces of the Sermon on the Mount.
• Also can’t help but laugh at the hecklers while Brian speaks.
• But he still gains a bit of a following and becomes pretty popular.
• The People’s Front of Judea decides to use Brian’s popularity to their advantage, but Brian is eventually arrested and sentenced to be crucified.
• Huh… I didn’t realize “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” was from this movie.
• I can see why some sensitive individuals would consider certain aspects of Monty Python’s Life of Brian to be blasphemous.
• However, I don’t consider it to be so.
• It’s a satire, sure… And it definitely turns a microscope on Christianity in general… But I wouldn’t call it blasphemous.
• The movie’s Wikipedia page has a quote from director Terry Jones: “We always stated Brian wasn’t blasphemous, but heretical. It wasn’t about what Christ was saying, but about the people who followed Him–the ones who for the next 2,000 years would torture and kill each other because they couldn’t agree on what He was saying about peace and love.”
• As a Christian, I can get behind that statement.
• It’s a lot like the quote by Brennan Manning that says, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
• Having now seen Monty Python’s Life of Brian, it currently ranks at 686 out of 2,255 movies on my personal Flickchart list.

Have you seen Life of Brian? If so, what did you think of it? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments! If you haven’t seen it, the movie is available to watch on Netflix. Next week’s movie is one I’m familiar with because of the true story it’s based on, Into the Wild.