The Life of Brian/jesus. [signed] [signed] [first edition]

Four hundred years ago, the Pythons would have been burnt at the stake for making the film Life of Brian. But this was the late 20th century and the antiquated British blasphemy laws were something of an irrelevance. That was until July 1977 when a blasphemy case succeeded against Gay News for publishing a poem about a Roman centurion's homoerotic leanings towards the crucified Christ. It was decided to open Life of Brian in the USA where freedom of speech is enshrined in the constitution. Or so it was thought but soon after the premiere in New York in 1979, the opening salvo in what became a heated and often surreal religious war of words came from Rabbi Abraham Hecht who declared, "Never have we come across such a foul, disgusting, blasphemous film before." Life of Brian was banned in many countries for blasphemy. But what is blasphemy and what should be the punishment? Who wants the law and why? And does God believe in it? Julian Doyle, the film's editor, analyses the film and compares each scene of the film with the actual Biblical events and comes to some extraordinary conclusions, including some special insights into the film that has been voted Britain's best comedy ever.