Charlie Chaplin- The Great Dictator, 1940
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 that cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness
Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost
— Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator Final Speech
The final speech in The Great Dictator the 1940 Charlie Chaplin film that brutally satirized the Naziism/Fascism that was then a dire threat to the entire world, feels very relevant to this moment in history.
The Great Dictator is about a Jewish barber in the fictional nation of Tomainia that is ruled by a ruthless dictator, Adenoid Hynkel. Without getting into the plot, Chaplin portrays both the Jewish barber and the Hitleresque Hynkel. At the film’s end, the barber is mistaken for Hynkel and is forced to make a speech, one in which delivers a message of hope to the world rather than the hateful rhetoric that was expected.
It is a direct appeal to the people of the world to reject the brutalism of such dictatorships and fight for the humanity of mankind. It was controversial at the time and Chaplin’s friends and advisors tried to dissuade him from including it in the final cut, telling him that it would cause him to lose a million dollars, a vast sum in 1940. Chaplin responded that he didn’t care if it cost him 5 million.
It feels though we are at a similar point in time with a presidential candidate who threatens to unleash the military on US citizens who oppose him, to imprison his political rivals, to revoke the licenses of TV networks who displease him, to monitor and control pregnancies, and to first round up then mass deport millions of illegal immigrants along with many who are now legal. And so much more.
These are not inferred threats or hyperbole. These are his words.
It is never wise to dismiss such threats. I hope enough people understand the peril we face.
Please take a few minutes to watch this final speech. It is inspiring in the context of history, then and now. If you get a chance, I urge you to see the whole film. It is both funny and heartbreaking on many levels and Chaplin exhibits his brilliance throughout. Jack Oakie is hysterical as the clownish Mussolini-like dictator, Benzino Napaloni, of the neighboring nation of Bacteria. He would have been a great choice to portray the current GOP candidate.
Anyway, here is the final speech from The Great Dictator:
Redtree Times 