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The Great Dictator

Director: Charlie Chaplin
Year: 1940
Run-time: 2 hrs 4 min

- There's too much to unpack about this short article, but suffice it to say that the stars must have been aligned in order for Chaplin to get to make this film about his ostensible doppleganger in 1940, when the U.S. was a neutral spectator to the war in Europe. The Hitler parody is funny, but most of the time it isn't over-the-top, and it often becomes quite frightening at the same time (see the famous "balloon globe" scene). This film is in many ways the apotheosis of Chaplin's desire to control his audience's experience, which even in a sound film (Chaplin's first) he is still able to do remarkably well. The pivot to honesty in the last scene is incredibly moving.  I'm not sure if it's my favorite of Chaplin's films, but it's certainly the most essential.
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