Is the first talkie of Charles Chaplin. In line began with his previous film, Modern Times (1935), a critique of mechanization and the mechanization of society, Chaplin faces this time to a topic most dramatic and disturbing at the time, the rise of totalitarian regimes and expansion of fascism in Europe. And it does undertaking with conviction, an attitude that cause many problems, since United States held a position at that time neutral on the conflict.
Despite the similarities established between the film and the development of historical events that took place so almost parallel (the invasion of Ostelrich by the Tomenia army and the German invasion of Poland, for example), the origin of the film is 1938.France and Britain had declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, two days after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi army, and a few days before the start of filming of The Great Dictator. Between May and June 1940 Germany invade Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. Italy go into War on June 10, beginning shortly after the invasion of Egypt. The Great Dictator opens on October 15, 1940 amid intense pressure and criticism, but immediately becomes a major critical and commercial success. The United States enter the conflict until December 1941 after the bombing of Pearl base Harbour by the Japanese army, an ally of Germany in the Pacific.Charles Chaplin, who studied Hitler for nearly two years, defined the projectas a cocktail of drama, comedy and tragedy portraying the grotesque and sinister silhouetteof a man believed to be a superhero and who thinks only of value your opinion. The filmmaker, in fact, uses the figure of Hitler to make a parody of political ideas cultural, social and economic consequences of Nazism, from the superiority of the Germanic race unconditional submission to the individual to the community, through the anti-Marxism and anti-Semitism Hynkel, the dictator of Tomania, is presented as a man selfish, childish, insecure, incapable of making decisions of any kind and even less to govern a country: the globe plays with one of the scenes memorable film, you end up blowing up, physically and symbolically, in their hands. But Hitler is the only real character that inspired Chaplin: The Dictator of Bacteria, Benzino Napoloni, is inspired by the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Garbitsch (the English garbage, trash), secretary of interior and minister of propaganda Hynkel is inspired by Joseph Paul Goebbels, Minister of popular education and propaganda Nazi government, and Marshal Herring recalls Hermann Wilhelm Göring Marshal, responsible for Air Force and one of the top leaders of the Gestapo, the German secret services. The Nazi swastika at the same time, appears transformed into a double cross leveraging a set of Anglo-Saxon words implies the idea of cheating.Naturally, the political context of the times would prevent this message of peace and freedom comes where I needed to get there: the film would be banned in fulminant Germany, Italy and all countries occupied by these two powers, and no premiered in Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica, in addition to Spain, among other countries.
