Delayed Reaction: The Great Dictator

The Pitch: Hitler sucks, and more people should realize that.

A satire of Nazi Germany, involving mistaken identity with a Jewish barber who looks exactly like Not Hitler.

Timing is everything.

It's hard to believe when this movie was made. WWII was still going on. The US hadn't even joined the fight yet. I tend to forget that even though people didn't know the full extent of the Jewish holocaust, Hitler was pretty disliked well before that. I can't say there's a lot I loved about the film. I'm not a huge fan of the Chaplin films I've seen so far. This one has a clumsier balance of slapstick and self-seriousness. I get why the movie is important though.

Remember when The Interview came out just a couple years ago? That movie caused a legitimate shitstorm. There was that Sony hack because of it and genuine concerns about North Korea's response. And that was for a stupid Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy in modern times, when people make movies about any topic pretty freely. I can't imagine Charlie Chaplin trying to make The Great Dictator in the same era that had restrictions on showing a couple share the same bed. That it got made, that it was so merciless in its attack of Hitler, and that it became a massive hit is incredible.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend