Monty Python: Life of Brian
Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” explores Jerusalem during Roman occupation through the story of one resident named Brian. The movie offers a ludicrous yet somewhat compelling picture of what the Roman Empire looked like in the early first century CE. There are Roman names, architecture, customs, speech, and even some traces of Epicureanism are present.
The film opens with newborn Brian’s cradle being visited by the 3 wise men who soon realize they have mistaken Brian for a newborn Jesus Christ. In fact, Brian’s life follows a somewhat similar path to Jesus’ and they both end up meeting the same fate. Next, Brian is seen as an adult with his mother attending one of Jesus’ sermons, however he is too far away to hear anything. After attending a stoning of a heretic, Brian spots several members of the rebel group known as the People’s Front of Judaea (not to be confused with the Judaean People’s Front). This scene and the whole story of the People’s Front of Judaea is analogous to the constant revolts we learned about during the republic in Italy, Spain, and Gaul.
After a poorly planned abduction of Pontius Pilate’s wife goes awry, Brian lands in front of Pontius Pilate himself, set for a certain death. Brian pleads that he is a Roman citizen because his father was a Roman centurion. This made me think of the phrase “Civis romanus sum” as it was uttered by Cicero in the trial of Verres and the utmost importance that both fatherhood and citizenship had during the Roman Republic. However, Brian escapes death because his guards are incapacitated by laughter after learning of Pilate’s friend “Biggus Dickus”. After our lesson on the importance of Roman names, I understood that Dickus must be a (unfortunate) family name with Biggus as his given name. Though Biggus is certainly an unfortunate given name with Dickus as the family name, at least the father was kind enough not to give his son the name Smallus.
Brian escapes captivity via an impersonation of a religious prophet; however, he soon gains a (accidental) religious following who views him as a messiah. After being chased around and stalked by his prodigious following, Brian is recaptured by the Romans. His religious status must have made the Romans even angrier seeing how Rome reacted to the Bacchanalian affair, and anything that could be viewed as private or subversive. Brian is forced to carry a cross and is crucified; however, the occasion does not dim the spirit of his fellow convicts who proceed to cheerily sing a song named “Always look on the bright side of life”. This is the attitude of the Epicureans who did not fear death, instead suggesting that since death cannot touch us in life, there is nothing to fear. In fact, a line in the song embodies the epicurean spirit as it reads “I mean, what have you got to lose? / You know, you come from nothing / You’re going back to nothing / What have you lost? Nothing.” The film ends with the condemned happily embracing the spirit of Epicurus as they enter the twilight of their lives.
