tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1975416078255909953.post1096568971356773567..comments2024-03-16T18:38:04.996-04:00Comments on Critics At Large : Chaplin's The Great Dictator: Still Brave But Not FunnyCritics at Largehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073851963852030361noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1975416078255909953.post-5920372298926920102011-06-22T21:26:38.560-04:002011-06-22T21:26:38.560-04:00The film is hilarious , if viewed in context, but ...The film is hilarious , if viewed in context, but of course having watched it dozens and dozens of times since my first viewing in the early 1960's in an "art cinema" in Greenwich village, I no longer laugh out loud, but enjoy my silent amusement , because I love satire. I love the names that Chaplin gave the Nazis and the Fascists. I love the nonsense in the train platform scene, laughing at Mussolini's Italy , where it was said that the trains now ran on time.<br />I understand that this was unique. Chaplin stood above the crowd, He told the truth. It's heroic.<br />The most beautiful scene is the last.Chaplin speaks from a spiritual place as a human being capable of love confronting evil.Wilhelm Reich would call the Nazis the "armoured men", incapable of experiencing love, their bodies armoured against feeling.<br />It's cynical to say that what he says is maudlin or sacharine, when I have always been convinced that this was a heart felt expression of what he believed. As a Jew , I was touched that he quoted the New Testament.He was a Christian standing up for the Jews. In context, that was a first!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com