Life of Brian

Terry Jones directs the story of Brian Cohen, born in Bethlehem the same night as Jesus and taken for the messiah twice: by three wise men at the wrong stable, then by a crowd that will not be corrected. Brian has joined the People’s Front of Judea, and the satire lands on the group, not on faith: minutes, acronyms, factions. Jesus is seen at a distance, misheard at the back. Shot in Tunisia, it reused the Ribat fortress at Monastir and sets and costumes left from Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth. Days before shooting, Bernard Delfont withdrew EMI’s money; George Harrison and Denis O’Brien founded HandMade Films, Harrison putting up his house as security. Jones called it the most expensive cinema ticket ever. The bans have endings. Norway banned it a year and released it in October 1980; Sweden opened it that August as the film so funny it was banned in Norway. Ireland held its ban eight years. Eleven British councils blocked screenings, twenty eight raised the certificate from AA to X. Cleese and Palin defended it on television against the Bishop of Southwark in 1979. A good fit if a committee arguing over its acronym beats any advance in the plot. Not for you if a crucifixion resolving into a singalong is a line you will not cross.