The Great Dictator

I did not think I would enjoy watching a 71 year old movie, but then again, I had never watched a Charlie Chaplin movie. And I surely had under-estimated him. From this movie, I found he wasn't just a comedian, but a true artist. A true artist because through his art (in this movie he's the director, script-writer, and main actor, making it truly HIS) he transmits a powerful message to his contemporary society.

The movie is a parody of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler, quite similar to how Animal Farm is a parody of Communist Russia. Charles Chaplin plays both Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator, and a poor unnamed Jewish barber, who is at first unaware of the persecution the Jews are facing and unknowingly stands up to it, with his dumb but meaningful question to the stormtroopers' behaviour: "Why?"

The film is not just humorous, it is cleverly humorous. Many scenes work perfectly: Benzino Napaloni (parody of Benito Mussolini) and Hynkel madly cranking up their barber chairs in an attempt to gain psychological advantage, Hynkel's mad dance with a globe balloon highlighting his desire for world domination, the comical way in which he goes from chore to chore to fit in his busy schedule, and his fiery temper for anything which does not work as he wishes.

The great thing to know about this movie is that it was released in 1940. Hitler's true atrocities were not yet known, the Final Solution had not yet started, and America had not yet joined the Allies in the War, but Chaplin made a great effort in opening the public's eyes as to what these Dictators may have had in mind. No wonder the movie was banned in all Nazi-occupied countries, and in Spain until the death of Franco in 1975.

The climax of the movie is reached towards its end, when the barber is mistaken for the dictator, and ends up delivering one of film-history's best ever speeches. True, the movie is in black-and-white and not everyone may like its acting style, but considering the statement it was making at the time of its release, it makes worth-while watching. Even if I have not watched any other Chaplin movie, I think it's safe to say that this is probably his finest hour. And from the events surrounding us in these very days, one cannot help but be amused at how some leaders never manage to grasp history's lessons.

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Mark Anthony Sammut

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