Is there something you rather be doing than marchin?
Yes. sir, Id like to read a book.
Be home with the wife and kids
I'm learning the piano
hehe "of you go" "Anyone else?
Who was that saying he's learning the piano? some british pianist before my time?
anyone know this morning or evening or yesterday ?
shareHaha indeed it was a funny moment. One of those that really marked me.
I always thought it was some kind of a satire of the British army. I am not a huge history buff but for what I know the British army always looked and acted like if they were the best and strongest, but they lost so many battles.
I can be totally off the track here but I feel like the Pythons made some fun of it there. The general (Michael Palin) looks and acts like if he is solide, disciplinary and a harsh leader, while in reality he cannot stand his ground and accept any request his men ask him.
The Pythons always took a big pleasure by criticizing the way the world goes with their absurd and politically incorrect humour. So I wouldn't be surprised if I'm guessing right.
"..while in reality he cannot stand his ground and accept any request his men ask him."
No, the joke is that military generals are often sarcastic, and the general here is speaking AS IF he's sarcastic - OF COURSE a general is not going to be serious, when he asks such a question.
The whole point is that military brainwashes soldiers to blindly obey without thinking or questioning, so they have to basically break your psyche and ego and then rebuild it from scratch. When your hope is constantly and consistently crushed, when your naivety is removed and you realize your only hope is to do whatever the generals want, regardless of how they word it, you are suited to be a monstrous murdering machine that just does what he's told, because he has learned it's useless to think (and it's a reflex at that point anyway).
So this whole thing BEGINS as if it's just part of this very effective and clever brainwashing routine that all militaries practice consistently, but then it takes a turn when the general ISN'T sarcastic after all, but actually follows the logic and the letter of his question completely.
So he puts himself under the mercy of the question, he involuntarily gives the soldiers a way out, an opportunity, a situation, where he can't back down, because it's his own question that frees the men.
Had he asked it sarcastically, he would've continued with something like "well, you better forget that nonsense, because this is the only thing you will do right now" or some such thing.
But since, against all military tradition, he was actually taking his own question literally and honestly, when someone answered it, he just had to let them go.
So it's not about him not being able to 'stand his ground' or accept any request (the men didn't make requests anyway, they only answered his question), it's about him taking HIS OWN QUESTION LITERALLY AND HONESTLY, not understanding why such question is usually asked.
Normally, a general would not be serious or honest about asking such a question, but use it to SHAME the soldiers for thinking of 'sissy things' they'd rather be doing, and not marching up and down like men - plus there's a sense of crushing their individuality by reminding them of the things they can't have, and after giving false hope, obliterating all possibility of getting to do any of those things in favor of the military drills.
This way, the general would raise the value of the drill above anything individualistic - group think and robotlike obedience above humanity, sensitivity, entertainment, fun, and any other individualistic, humanlike endeavour.
More than that, he's also crushing the WILL, the want, the wish, the desire to do something else, as the very 'wanting to do something better' is made something to be ashamed of, so it's psychologically safer and in all ways better to do the MANLY militaristic drill.
This kind of thought-correction is basic routine in any institutionalized murder machinery.
The twist is, that the general doesn't understand that the question is supposed to be sarcastic and work this way towards total control of the soldiers, but he thinks he has to let them go if they actually DO have something better to do.
And this is of course completely and utterly absurd, no military general would ever make this mistake.
This is one of the rare funny bits in this below-mediocre almost-movie. The absurdity of it all makes this bit funny.
It's like "What would world be if everyone was honest" or "What would the military be like, if every question a general asked, was a sincere question instead of sarcasm", etc.
" So I wouldn't be surprised if I'm guessing right."
if your guess was that the British army are a bunch of pussies , then your guess was wrong.
see avortac's answer , which applies to all militarys
Jeez guys, I posted this a year ago. My interpretation of this whole scene as of the British military changed a lot since then, especially since I've read about what Winston Churchill did to push his nation to be strong while facing the enemy.
Don't worry, I don't think about it like that anymore lol. A lot can change in one year.