Exactly! Not only is this right, but all those that see it as a film mocking Christianity are precisely those that the film itself is mocking. One of the closing scenes in ‘Holy Flying Circus’ is the Bishop admitting he missed the first 15 minutes of the film - ie. the bit where the wise men are shown leaving the stable in which Brian has just been born and heading off to the one in which Mary has just given birth to Jesus. They even take the gifts back for heaven’s sake!
I watched the first half of it the other night (admittedly I fell asleep but it was midnight and I was tired) and found it incredibly clever. The program tells you what to expect right off the bat - you get Jesus telling you the whole thing is a fiction - and then adds “like the Bible” - and then he does a fart joke. If you’re expecting a mild biopic after that, you’re really not paying attention.
The Pythons were all extreme caricatures of their real selves, which made the whole thing more surreal. There were a number of digressions which were in some ways the best part of the show - they manage to lampoon the BBC **and *those who complain to it about petty crap in the same sketch (“COMPLAINT!”) and the conversation between Cleese and the news agent ought to be put on YouTube to link to whenever anyone pulls the “Why don’t they make a parody of Mohammed?” argument out of their backside.
I’m planning on going onto iPlayer to catch the rest of it but oh, I did like what I saw so far.
*Especially the ending.
I was fortunate to catch it on youtube before it was taken down, and found it quite enjoyable, especially as I remember the kerfluffle surrounding the release of the film – I finally got to see it in 1982 as the ‘artsy’ theatre in Newark, DE (the old State Theatre for any locals) when I was about 17.
My mother, despite being a militant Catholic, had already gone through one daughter and controversy with Jesus Christ Superstar in 1970 (she took my sister’s copy of the LP to the local priest to have it blessed, just in case), so I do give her credit not only for letting a family friend take me, but buying me the film when it came out on VHS at the then incredible sum of over $100 :eek:
As a kid, I was less concerned with it being blasphemous, and more concerned over Brian’s poor Latin grammar.
(And while she’s no Python fan, my mother has seen the ‘Biggus Dickus’ scene, and had to agree, it was pretty silly.)
And quite honestly, the real frustration, for me, with those against the film (and JCSS and Last Temptation of Christ, &c) come from those who haven’t seen it, but of course know that it must be horrid, and sinful, and miss the point just as Brian’s followers did.
Also I did like that Mark Heap’s minions were meant to be parodies of the jailer’s assistants from Brian:
and
(although the latter cuts off the best bit – ‘Anyway, go on with your story…’)