Che_the_Fey

Obligatory "I love both films why-does-this-show-like-hurting-me" caveat, but I have to go with Life of Brian. When I was growing up, Holy Grail was the more frequently quoted and widely seen movie in my hometown. Even my undergraduate program put on an annual "Holy Grail" viewing party, where professors and students would pause the movie to act out their favorite scenes together. I feel like Holy Grail is definitely the more communal movie of the two - to kind of paraphrase Graham, Holy Grail was the movie you took to sleepovers and shared with everyone. But Life of Brian isn't just the better film, it's the film that moves you and gives you content to think about. I would be surprised if anyone watched Holy Grail and started thinking deeply about forms of governance, but it would be hard to watch Life of Brian and not think about the ways in which we can create our own prisons of faith and/or ideology. LoB is still funny and still offers little bits that can be posted as clips or enjoyed on their own, but watching the entire film is just a more rewarding experience when you see how all the skits and jokes are directed towards a cohesive theme. I also can't help but feel that it's a better movie because it's a film that got me thinking critically about the role of religion in my life at a young age. It's an influence I still can't shake. Holy Grail is the movie I'd show to aliens if I wanted them to know who Monty Python was, but Life of Brian is the movie I'd show aliens if I wanted them to know more about humanity itself. Ra Ra Ra for the very naughty boy.