Brian (Graham Chapman) is a Jewish man with a Roman father, living in first-century Palestine with his mother.
The Romans are in power, and are terrorising the citizens at every turn.
Within this culture, many splinter groups have popped up, all of them hoping to be the ones to overthrow the Romans and return their country to peace once again.
One of these groups is the Peoples' Front of Judea, which Brian joins one day. It is here he meets Judith (Sue Jones-Davies) with whom he falls in love.
The script, written by the Pythons - John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam - is filled with that classic Pythonesque humour we have come to love (if you love it, that is).
The script is not - as some have attested over the years - a mockery of the life of Jesus Christ, but rather, a satire against the very notion of organised religion and its propensity to seek to control people.
This script is an improvement on the Pythons' first film in that it follows a much more narrative structure, with only one main plotline. There is no doubt their strength lies in sketch writing, the feel of which this film has in its individual scenes, but as a unified whole, this film works much better than its predecessor.
The music - by Geoffrey Burgon - is well suited to the on-screen action, and while not being particularly adventurous or spectacular, does its job perfectly well enough.
Where this film really shines in its production design (by Terry Gilliam) and costume design (by Charles Knode and Hazel Pethig), both of which take the audience back in time to an authentically-recreated time in history. The film was shot in Tunisia, with a large number of extras, all dressed in period costumes, and all looking the part.
The cast performances are adequate for their purpose. This is a comedy film from the team who brought us Monty Python's Flying Circus, and is not likely to have won its cast any major awards for acting. But at the same time, the performances are believable enough. Sue Jones-Davies in particular is fantastic as Judith.
Director Terry Jones comes into his own with this film, and to be honest, I think having only one director helped this time too. This is a film of which I never tire, and will surely watch again and again with no drop in my level of enjoyment.
8 out of 10.
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