The Great Dictator

My second Chaplin endeavor made a little more sense than my first, but the 23 years between them helped. The Immigrant felt remote but inherently familiar, as though I could comprehend a language I never learned. The Great Dictator is familiar in that one easily charts its course toward more modern movies like Dr. Strangelove. The Great Dictator feels remarkably nearer than The Immigrant, partly due to its humor, cultural context, and diegetic sound. Its honesty cut deeper, actualized in its final unexpected moments. It was darker and more poignant. The Immigrant was like a routine, while The Great Dictator was a movie, with the breadth and depth of modern cinema. It's still largely physical, belying its rich subject matter, but at times it confronts those themes maturely. Hitler dancing for silent minutes with a balloon globe is its best example of balancing the physical and the dramatic. Elsewhere a scene is dedicated to nothing but Hitler playing the piano. Such moments are sincere if not poignant. The ending sheds all comedy for bravery. The optimism is tragic to the modern viewer who knows what the next five years held in store. Apparently Chaplin later said he couldn't have made the movie if he'd known the extremity of the situation. I can empathize: while his take on the situation is appreciated, the satire is difficult to stomach knowing what we know now, and I'm half a century removed -- imagine the buzzkill back then as they learned what was happening in Hitler's empire. There's a ton of Trump comedy these days that would turn grotesque if he was revealed to orchestrate mass sex slavery or something. I suppose part of The Great Dictator's legacy is its poise between two Wars -- between innocence fighting for its life and innocence's extermination. Chaplin's spirit is humbled enough for a brave satire that would be impossible a few years later. His perspective on the times, encapsulated in The Great Dictator, is admirable, elevating the movie above slapstick. I enjoyed the comedy and appreciated the thematic content.