The great Dictator

The Great Dictator (The Great Dictator) is a 1940 American film written, directed and directed by Charlie Chaplin performance. Chaplin was the only filmmaker in Hollywood who was still making silent films when sound was already fully established in the cinema, and this was Chaplin's first sound film.

The work is a fierce and controversial condemnation of Nazism, fascism, anti-Semitism and dictatorships in general. At the time of its release, the United States had not yet gone to war with Nazi Germany. Chaplin plays both leading roles: that of a ruthless Nazi dictator and that of a persecuted Jewish barber.

The Great Dictator was popular with audiences, and was Chaplin's most commercially successful film. Modern critics have also praised it as a historically significant film and as an important work of satire.. It has also been pointed out that the Jewish barber bears many similarities to Chaplin's most famous character: the tramp Charlot. Although it is not specified if it is about him or not, it is generally considered that this film is the last of Charlot. The feature film was nominated for five awards at the 13th edition of the Oscars, but none took home.

In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he could not have made the film if he had been aware of the magnitude of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at the time.

It is disputed whether this is Charlot's last film; if so, it would be the first in which she speaks, since in Modern Times she is only heard singing.

Plot

During a battle that took place in the closing months of World War I, a Jewish soldier in the Tomania nation's army and barber by profession (Chaplin) saves the life of Officer Schultz (Reginald Gardiner) by helping him escape in their plane, but they have an accident and the plane crashes. Both survive, but the soldier loses his memory. At that moment, some doctors arrive who announce to Schultz that the war is over and Tomania has lost.

Twenty years later, and still with amnesia, the soldier escapes from the hospital where he has stayed all this time and returns to his city, where he reopens his old barbershop located in the ghetto, unaware that times have changed. The country is ruled by ruthless dictator Adenoid Hynkel (Chaplin), assisted by Home Secretary Garbitsch (Henry Daniell) and War Minister Herring (Billy Gilbert). There is brutal discrimination against the Jews and it is secretly planned to exterminate the people with black hair. The symbol of Hynkel's regime is the "double cross" (parodic of the Nazi swastika), and Hynkel delivers his speeches in a macaronic language, imitation of the Harry Styles language.

Chaplin on the role of the dictator Adenoid Hynkel.

Unaware of Hynkel's rise to power, barber Hojita is shocked when raiding parties paint the word "Jew" on the windows of his shop. One of the inhabitants of the ghetto, the beautiful Hannah (Paulette Goddard) defends the barber when he is harassed by members of the security forces. Both fall in love, and must suffer the abuses of the dictatorship, although Schultz, who now occupies a high position in the Hynkel government, recognizes the barber and orders the troops not to bother the inhabitants of the ghetto. Also, Hynkel orders the persecution to cease while he tries to get a loan from a Jewish banker to finance his plans for global domination.

Hynkel “plays” with a globe on one of the most famous scenes in the film.

Hynkel plans to invade Austerlich, the neighboring country, and needs the loan to finance the invasion. When the banker refuses to give the loan, Hynkel resumes and escalates the violence against the Jews. Schultz, their protector, shows his rejection of the pogrom, and Hynkel, considering him a traitor and a defender of democracy, sends him to a concentration camp. Schultz flees and hides in the ghetto. There, with the help of the barber, Hannah and the other inhabitants of the ghetto, he seeks to overthrow Hynkel and his regime. The storming forces take the ghetto, and the barber and Schultz are sent to the concentration camp.

Hynkel continues with his plans to invade Austerlich, but the meddling of Benzino Napaloni (Jack Oakie), the dictator of Bacteria, forces him to invite him to visit him and be diplomatic with him, but it all ends in a ridiculous war of food and cakes between the two dictators. Meanwhile, Hannah and the ghetto inhabitants flee to Austerlich, but soon the invasion from Tomania begins and they find themselves once again living with the Hynkel regime.

Scene of the final speech.

The barber and Schultz escape the camp disguised as Tomania uniforms. The border guards mistake the barber for Hynkel, whom he closely resembles. Meanwhile, Hynkel is mistaken for the barber and mistakenly detained by his own troops.

The barber, mistaken for Hynkel, is taken to the capital of Austerlich to give a speech about the start of world conquest. Introducing "Hynkel" to the crowd, Garbitsch decrees the annexation of Austerlich by Tomania, the annulment of free speech, and the subjugation of the Jews. However, the barber makes a rousing speech, against Hynkel's anti-Semitic policies and declaring that Tomania and Austerlich will become free and democratic nations. He also makes a call to humanity in general urging to end dictatorships and use science and progress to make a better world.

Hannah, at home, again razed by invaders, hears the barber's speech on the radio, and is astonished when "Hynkel" refers directly to her:

Hannah: Can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up, Hannah! The clouds are moving away, the sun is appearing, we are coming out of darkness into the light, we walk towards a new world, a world of goodness, in which men will rise above hatred, ambition, brutality! Look at the high, Hannah, the soul of man has been given wings and is finally starting to fly, is flying towards the rainbow, towards the light of hope, to the future, a glorious future, which belongs to you, to me, to all! Look up, Hannah, look up!

Hannah looks up to the sky with hope, and the screen closes over her face.

Cast

• Charles Chaplin: the Jewish barber/ the dictator of Tomania.
• Paulette Goddard: Hannah.
• Jack Oakie: Benzino Napaloni, dictator of Bacteria.
• Reginald Gardiner: Schultz.
• Henry Daniell: Garbitsch.
• Billy Gilbert: Herring.
• Maurice Moscovich: Mr. Jaeckel.
• Emma Dunn: Mrs. Jaeckel.
• Bernard Gorcey: Mr. Mann.

Movie cartoons

With the main political characters in the film, it targets historical political figures:

• Adenoid Hynkel: Adolf Hitler.
• Garbitsch: Joseph Goebbels.
• Herring: Hermann Göring.
• Benzino Napolini: Benito Mussolini.

Production

In his biography of Nazi propaganda filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, Jürgen Trimborn notes that Chaplin and French filmmaker René Clair saw the film The Triumph of will, by Riefenstahl. The Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel said that Clair was alarmed by the strength of the film, and warned that its screening in the West had to be prevented or the West would lose the war. Chaplin, for his part, mocked the film, taking it as inspiration for many features of The Great Dictator. Watching Riefenstahl's film several times, he managed to closely imitate Hitler's mannerisms.

Hynkel's speech at the beginning of the film, delivered in German-sounding nonsense, is a caricature of Hitler's oratorical style, which Chaplin also studied carefully by watching news footage.

Chaplin wanted to confront the escalating violence and repression of the Jews by the Nazis in the late 1930s. He learned of the extent of the events from his European Jewish friends and fellow artists. The repressive nature of the Third Reich and militaristic tendencies were well known at the time. Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 film To be or not to be with a similar theme, featured the character of an actor posing as Hitler. Chaplin later said that he would not have made The Great Dictator if he had known the magnitude of the Nazis' crimes. After the horror of the Holocaust became known, filmmakers fought for nearly 20 years to find the right angle and tone to satirize the era.

In the period of the rise of Hitler and his Nazi party, Chaplin was becoming popular worldwide. He was harassed by fans on a 1931 trip to Berlin, which upset the Nazis. Resenting his brand of comedy, they published a book in 1934 entitled Juden Sehen Dich An (The Jews Are Watching You), in which they described the British comedian as "a disgusting Jewish acrobat" (although Chaplin was not Jewish). Ivor Montagu, a close friend of Chaplin's, said that he had sent the comedian a copy of the book and that he had always believed that Chaplin took revenge by making The Great Dictator.

In the 1930s, Hitler and Chaplin were often depicted with similar mustaches by cartoonists and actors. Chaplin took advantage of that resemblance to give his tramp character a break.

Charles Chaplin Jr., in My Father, Charlie Chaplin (My father: Charlie Chaplin), described his father as being haunted by the similarities between him and Hitler; both were born in April 1889 (Chaplin, four days before Hitler), and both were originally from the lower class.

Wrote Chaplin Jr.:

Their fates were contrary: one was to make millions cry, while the other was to make the whole world laugh. Dad could never think of Hitler without a shock, half of horror, half of fascination. «Think» - he said with concern - «he is the madman, and I am the comic; but it could have been the reverse».

Chaplin prepared the story throughout 1938 and 1939, and began shooting in September of that last year, a week after the outbreak of World War II. He finished shooting almost six months later. The 2002 television documentary on the making of the film, The Tramp and the Dictator, internationally co-produced by 4 companies (including the BBC, Turner Classic Movies, and Spiegel TV), featured footage Taken by Chaplin's brother, Sydney, from the production of The Great Dictator. It showed Chaplin's initial attempts to shoot the end of the film, before the fall of France.

According to The Tramp and the Dictator, Chaplin arranged to send the film to Hitler, and an eyewitness confirmed that he saw it. Hitler's friend and architect Albert Speer denied that the dictator had made it. seen. Hitler's response to the film was never recorded, but another source claims that he saw the film twice.

Some of the ghetto window signs in the film are written in Esperanto, which Hitler condemned as a Jewish plot to internationalize and destroy German culture, perhaps because its founder, L. L. Zamenhof, was a Polish Jew.

Reception

Bike with advertising The Great Dictator in Buenos Aires, 1941.

Chaplin's film was released nine months after Hitler's first parody Hollywood work: the Three Stooges short You Nazty Spy!, which was released in January 1940.

The Great Dictator was well received in the United States at the time of its release, and was successful with American audiences. It was also successful in the UK, where it drew 9 million moviegoers, even though Chaplin feared in advance that wartime audiences would not want a comedy about a dictator. It was the second most successful film in the United States in 1941.

The film The Great Dictator was banned in several Latin American countries where there were active movements of Nazi sympathizers.

While the film was being made, the British government had announced that it would ban its screening in the UK, in line with its policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany.

But by the time it was released, the UK was at war with Germany, so it was embraced in large part for its obvious propaganda value. In 1941, the Prince of Wales Theater in London gave its UK premiere. The film had been banned in many parts of Europe, and the theater's owner, Alfred Esdaile, was reportedly fined for showing it.

When it was released in France in 1945, it became the most popular film of the year, with 8,280,553 tickets sold. its premiere, finally taking place in 1976.

Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance ends his lengthy examination of this work in his book Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema by affirming its importance among the great satires achieved by the art of the moving image. Vance writes:

The Great DictatorChaplin survives as a masterful integration of comedy, politics and satire. It is the most self-consciously political work of Chaplin and the first important satire of cinema."

Charlott and the Jewish Barber

The Jewish barber (Chaplin) distractedly tries to shave Hannah (Goddard).

There is no consensus among critics about the relationship between Chaplin's earlier character, Charlot, and the film's Jewish barber, but the tendency is to see the barber as a variation on him. Truffaut would later point out that, at the start of production, Chaplin said that he would not play Charlot in a sound film, and that he considered the barber to be a completely different character. Turner Classic Movies says that, years later, Chaplin would acknowledge a connection between Charlot and the barber.

There is controversy that if the anonymous Jewish barber is considered as the final incarnation of the vagabond or not. Although his memories frequently refer to the barber as the little tramp, Chaplin said in 1937 that he would not interpret the little tramp in his sound films.

In My Life, Chaplin wrote:

Of course!: as Hitler, he could sand to the multitudes all he wanted; and as a wanderer, he could remain silent.

In his review of the film, years after its release, Roger Ebert writes:

Technically, Chaplin was not interpreting the tramp.

He put at stake the little tramp and a million and a half of his dollars to ridicule Hitler."

Critics who see the barber as a different character from the tramp include Stephen Weissman, whose book Chaplin: A Life introduces the filmmaker

[...] abandoning the technique of the traditional pantomime and its little vagabond character.

DVD Journal critic Mark Bourne affirms Chaplin's stated position:

Of course, the barber has more than akin to the vagabond, and even the pump and the stick. But Chaplin said the barber's not the tramp and that The Great Dictator It's not a tramp movie.

The Scarecrow Movie Guide also considers the barber to be a different character.

Annette Insdorf, in her 2003 book Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust, writes:

There was something singularly right in the fact that the little tramp embodied the figure of the dictator, since in 1939 Hitler and Chaplin were perhaps the two most famous men in the world. The despota and the vagabundo thunder the papers The Great Dictatorwhich makes it possible for the foreign sempiter to address the masses.

In her 1998 book The 50 Greatest Jewish Movies, Kathryn Bernheimer writes:

What he chose to say in The Great DictatorHowever, it was just what could be expected of the homeless. Film scholars have often pointed out that the little tramp resembles the figure of the Jew as marginalized, as a foreigner.

Several critics of the late 20th century describe the little tramp as having become the Jewish barber. In Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s, Thomas Schatz writes:

Chaplin's little tramp was transposed into a Jewish barber,

In Hollywood in Crisis: Cinema and American Society, 1929–1939, Colin Shindler writes:

The small universal vagabond is transmuted into a specifically Jewish barber whose country is about to be absorbed into the totalitarian empire of Adenoid Hynkel.

In A Distant Technology: Science Fiction Film and the Machine Age, J. P. Telotte writes:

The little figure of the vagabond is here reincarnated as the Jewish barber.

There is a two-page disquisition on the relationship between the character of the barber and that of the tramp in Eric L. Flom's book Chaplin in the Sound Era: An Analysis of the Seven Talkies (Chaplin in the era of sound: analysis of the seven films). It ends like this:

Perhaps the distinction between the two characters would be clearer if Chaplin had not trusted that an ingredient of confusion would attract the audience. With the twist of the wrong identity The Great DictatorThe similarity between the barber and the vagabond allowed Chaplin to break with his usual character in the sense of characterization, but to take advantage of it visually. The similar nature of the characterizations of the vagabond and the barbero could have been a Chaplin effort to maintain its popularity among the spectators, many of which in 1940 had never seen a movie of the era of silent cinema. Chaplin could have transformed an old character into another new one, yet he had Charlot's to take the audience to the cinemas to see his first incursion into the sound and his boldest political declaration until then.

Awards and nominations