Heavens Above! (DVD, 2003)

I love Peter Sellers movies! this is not as funny as many of the later ones, but still good. As long as you like older movies, I would recommend seeing or getting this.

Heavens Above is a strange little film-- a favorite because it is so loaded with subtle allegory, there's always something new to find with every viewing. Plain-speaking John Smallwood represents both Malcolm Muggeridge, on whose idea the film was based, and Seller's own boyhood mentor, Father Cornelius (thank you, Robert Osbourne). The film, understood as an allegory, presents Smallwood as a Christ figure, who treads on the toes of the Pharisees of his parish and the very church officials responsible for his being given the living of Orbiston Parva, where most of the inhabitants rely on the great three-in-one: not the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but a laxative-antidepressant, the manufacture of which keeps the town going.

Other elements imitate the Crucifixion: the child's stuffed donkey, left behind when everyone has forsaken Smallwood; the defection of Matthew, who understandably fears the mob crowd after him; the "burial" and Resurrection in the garbage truck; the Ascension and promised return, while Smallwood sings, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul, let me to Thy bosom fly."

Sellers provides this character with a northern accent, Manchester, perhaps. When he sings in his reedy voice, the result is plaintive and touching.

The film is comical, meaty--always something to go back to. It's so offbeat that, upon watching it the first time, it keeps the mind working--"what does it mean?" When one discovers that Smallwood is a Christ figure and the story is partly an allegory, all the strange, seemingly unrelated elements become cohesive. Once watched, it will become a fast favorite.