Thursday 15 October 2020

the great dictator

The same age and born into similar life circumstances and the only other who could pull off their signature facial hair, produced much to the consternation of his native UK as they feared the political satire ran counter to their policy of appeasement (though by the release date—on this day in 1940, that attitude had very much shifted) so changing venues to American cinemas—who maintained a stance of neutrality—the debut of the comedy-drama was a rousing condemnation of fascism and antisemitism. As skewering and honest in its assessment the film was—Chaplin playing both the protagonist and antagonist in the roles of the cut-throat dictator and the downtrodden Jewish barber (with cases of masquerade and mistaken identity), the creator later admitted that had he known the true scale of the horror of the concentration camps at the time, he would have never made the film. Below is a clip from the final address, with the Great Dictator recanting all he’s done.