Review of The Great Dictator (1940) by Jennifer S — 04 Dec 2010

I was expecting a silly lark of a film and what I got was one of the funniest and most touching films I've seen in a long time.

There's so much to process here. Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in The Great Dictator two years before the United States entered WWII. It's amazing how well he was able to both skewer Hitler and the Third Reich and get enormous laughs that still feel fresh decades after the war ended.

The Great Dictator feels a lot like Dr. Strangelove, only with a more poignant message at its center. Chaplin plays Hitler ("Hynkel" in the film) as a preening fool. This representation may have been the first of many to present one of the most terrifying men of the 20th century as a silly, limp-wristed idiot (I'm not sure I like the whole "gay Hitler" portrayal. Yes, it gets laughs, but at whose expense?). It seems that the only way to tame such a monster is to humiliate and belittle him. To fight fear and hate with laughter. Perhaps the joke is mightier than the sword.

But amongst all the tomfoolery (which gets even more uproarious when "Napolini", the Mussolini character, who calls Hynkey "Hinkie", is introduced) is a message of love and humanity. In addition to playing Hynkel, Chaplin also plays a Jewish barber living in a ghetto. He and his friends are protected from the wrath of the storm troopers because the barber saved the life of one of the high ranking officials of Hynkel's party during the first world war. The friendship between the two men, and Chaplin's relationship with spitfire Hannah, played by a luminous Paulette Goddard, balance out the humor with emotion. When the barber is mistaken for Hynkel in the last act of the movie, the speech Chaplin makes about the dignity of all humans and freedom and love conquering enslavement and hate is a little on the nose, but at the same time is so right. The film's message, like its jokes, feel as fresh and life-affirming today as they probably did in 1940.