The beginning of the film sets up the parody between the lives of Jesus and Brian immediately by showing the wise men coming in and mistaking Brian’s birth for that of Jesus. It sets the stage for the viewer so that he/she can see the similarities between Gospel stories and the events that are unfolding in Brian’s life. It also gives a humorous representation of the origins of the understanding people have of Jesus today. For example, Brian gains a following after ad-libbing a speech in order to evade the Roman centurions. Afterwards, he tries to deny the accusations that he is the Messiah and that the “miracles” and “idols” that people are claiming that he performed and owned are all nonsense and have no significant meaning.
The film constantly portrays the relationship between the Jewish factions and the Jewish-Roman interactions as humorous, yet it is clear that the Jews are afraid of the Romans. All of the different Jewish factions represent the fact that the Jewish people were upset with Roman rule. However, the fighting between these groups demonstrates that little was actually done in order to overthrown Roman rule.
One interesting point of the film is the strictness with which the Jewish people adhere to the rules. In the scene where the man is being stoned for saying “Jehovah”, this strictness is demonstrated. I interpreted this scene as a type of jab to religions that take their associated texts as literal meaning, even if what is said in the text no longer applies to modern day society.
The film makes the viewer look at Jesus from a perspective that greatly differs from that of the Christian faith. My interpretation of the film is that the significance of Jesus could be just a case of over exaggeration. Brian gained followers for doing something he really had no intentions of doing and was immediately upgraded from a pseudo street-preacher to that of a divine, Messianic prophet. While I would like to think that this would not be the case in reality, it certainly makes one wonder how the perceptions of Jesus have changed over time and if this transformation has taken place over the course of two millennia rather than immediately, as the film portrays.
The film constantly portrays the relationship between the Jewish factions and the Jewish-Roman interactions as humorous, yet it is clear that the Jews are afraid of the Romans. All of the different Jewish factions represent the fact that the Jewish people were upset with Roman rule. However, the fighting between these groups demonstrates that little was actually done in order to overthrown Roman rule.
One interesting point of the film is the strictness with which the Jewish people adhere to the rules. In the scene where the man is being stoned for saying “Jehovah”, this strictness is demonstrated. I interpreted this scene as a type of jab to religions that take their associated texts as literal meaning, even if what is said in the text no longer applies to modern day society.
The film makes the viewer look at Jesus from a perspective that greatly differs from that of the Christian faith. My interpretation of the film is that the significance of Jesus could be just a case of over exaggeration. Brian gained followers for doing something he really had no intentions of doing and was immediately upgraded from a pseudo street-preacher to that of a divine, Messianic prophet. While I would like to think that this would not be the case in reality, it certainly makes one wonder how the perceptions of Jesus have changed over time and if this transformation has taken place over the course of two millennia rather than immediately, as the film portrays.
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