Reflection on Charlie Chaplin’s Film The Great Dictator

Charlie Chaplin is a great actor/director that was born on April 16, 1889 and died on December 25, 1877. He is known for many films such as ‘The Kid’, ‘City lights’ and ‘The Great Dictator’. He is also a person that does not believe in war, greed, and power as evident from his speech at the end of the film The Great Dictator.

Charlie was born in London, England his father was an actor and vocalist, and his mother was an actress and singer. Throughout his life he married four times and his fourth marriage lasted the longest. He lived in the United States for about 42 years and never became a citizen. Eventually he was accused of being a communist and was not allowed to return to the U.S. after a tour that he had taken with his wife. This led him to then move to Switzerland where he remained for about 20 years with the eight children he had with his fourth wife. Chaplin was considered to be very demanding in Hollywood. He was known to be experimental and would many takes of the same scene. He is also known for many films both silent and talkies like ‘The Great Dictator’.

Charlie Chaplin created the film ‘The Great Dictator’ which he wrote and directed. In the film he played a character that was inspired by Adolf Hitler. Before the film began filming there were diplomats that were enraged by the idea that this film was actually happening. Although many people in France such as authors and other artists praised him and considered him a genius. The film is definitely very thought provoking and compelling.

In the film Chaplin has two characters that look alike but are very different one is a poor Jewish barber and the other a tyrant dictator. He is trying to represent how Hitler was at the time during the war and trying to add some comedy in it at the same time. The film starts off with the Jewish barber in the war and eventually is put in a coma that he eventually wakes from. When he wakes from the coma he goes back to the town that he is from and tries to go back to being a barber and does not realize how the town he once knew has changed. The barber cannot accept the way things have changed and eventually ends up switching places with Hynkel in the end to make a great speech against tyranny.

The speech at the end of the film is very powerful because it is being said at a time that the world was actually at war and speaks to how people should be toward each other and act toward each other. In the film Chaplin says ‘the misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.’ From this quote we can see that Charlie did not agree with the way that the world was at the time and he stood against the real events going on at the time.

I believe that Charlie Chaplin was a great person that only wanted the best from others whether it was in film or just in life. He seemed to be the type of person that was a perfectionist. I read something about him and how he would end production on a film if he believed that an actor was not right for the role he had them doing. I also read that he would do scenes over and over in order to see different versions of a scene and to be able to experiment. It seems to be fine for him to do those things because he seems to be very dedicated to the art of filmmaking. I do not believe that he ever had any cruel intentions by any of the things that he did.

After watching his film I believe that he was a man that only wanted the world to be better that in was. I believe the meaning of this film he created was to make a statement as well as criticizing the way people were at the time. I believe that he wanted people to have more freedom throughout the world and not be led by a dictator. He seems to have his strong opinion about what is right and what is wrong and so he decided to voice those opinions the way he knew how which was through his film. He believed that all people had a right to live as they pleased and to be happy. Which is evident by some of the dialogue in the final speech of his film. He believed that all that we have learned has changed us, from being people that feel to people that only think and don’t consider others. This topic was very interesting because before I only knew the name Charlie Chaplin. I only thought of him as the guy that was in the silent movies. I would also associate him with humor and had never even heard of his film ‘The Great Dictator.’ Now after watching the film and searching online about his life and the film I have a better understanding of the type of person that I believe he was. Dedicated to the art of filmmaking, opinionated, and passionate. For about five years now I have become very interested in film, I constantly watch the latest ones that are in theatres. Watching this film by Charlie only increases my interest in seeing film that could have messages as his film did. In all the films that I have seen or heard of I’m not sure if I have heard a story about a director that was so dedicated like Charlie.

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