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The Great Dictator
May. 26th, 2020 02:42 pmLast night, I watched my first Charlie Chaplin film. It was The Great Dictator, released in 1940 to ridicule Hitler and encourage the US to join the war. It was Chaplin's first 'talkie' and the transition from silent slapstick comedy to more layered vocal satire was clear in a lot of the humour and the inclusion of a lot of physical comic scenes.
Chaplin plays both a Jewish barber persecuted by stormtroopers, and the dictator himself, who is bent on invasion of other countries. The expected mistaken identity doesn't take place until the last ten minutes, and the film is quite episodic rather than having a cohesive plot, but I did enjoy it overall.
In particular, the scene where Hynkel dances with his globe was beautifully put together, and I was also impressed by Hannah, who is perhaps the most well-rounded character and takes lots of positive action to make things better.
The film did make me laugh in quite a few places, and it also did a good job of conveying the horrors of the early stages of the war. It was perhaps a bit over-long and not quite a tightly structured as it could have been, but I would recommend it.
Chaplin plays both a Jewish barber persecuted by stormtroopers, and the dictator himself, who is bent on invasion of other countries. The expected mistaken identity doesn't take place until the last ten minutes, and the film is quite episodic rather than having a cohesive plot, but I did enjoy it overall.
In particular, the scene where Hynkel dances with his globe was beautifully put together, and I was also impressed by Hannah, who is perhaps the most well-rounded character and takes lots of positive action to make things better.
The film did make me laugh in quite a few places, and it also did a good job of conveying the horrors of the early stages of the war. It was perhaps a bit over-long and not quite a tightly structured as it could have been, but I would recommend it.
