The Great Dictator

Dir: Charlie Chaplin

1940

*****

The Great Dictator is one of the greatest films ever made. I know Chaplin said that it was The Gold Rush that he would most like to be remembered for (give me Modern Times over Gold Rush every day of the week) but for me, this is him at his very best. While he represented many a character, it is here where he portrays both Adolf Hitler and a persecuted Jew that he makes is biggest statement. He got so much of what was happening in politics and in society right, it is almost eerie watching it now. It should be remembered that America was still at peace with Germany at the time and Chaplin knew nothing of the horrors of the concentration camps, indeed, he stated in an interview in the 1960s that had have known, he probably wouldn't have made the film. It's amazing to see such slap-stick intertwined with such sharply understood satire. It is without doubt, the greatest satire of all time, especially considering when it was made. Chaplin's playful explanation of fascism and dictatorship that sees his version of Hitler bouncing a globe around his office is one of the greatest scenes of all time. To be fair, it is a film of great scenes, each memorable, subtle but as sharp as a knife, and of course hilarious. The greatest moment however is not for laughs. It's amazing that one of the funniest films ever made ends on such a beautiful, poignant and inspirational note as Chaplin delivers what is one of the greatest speeches ever written;

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black men, white.... We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have bought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.

Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say "Do not despair".

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, and use you as cannon fodder!

Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men-machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have a love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers, don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke it is written "the kingdom of god is within man", not one man or a group of men but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power.

Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work that will unite youth future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do no fulfil their promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

A lesson from the past, written during desperate times that will always have relevance. Not something that most films can boast. The word masterpiece doesn’t really give it enough credit.