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Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator

There's more to film than anime, and every so often we currently watch some of Charlie Chaplin's classics. This weekend it as at the request of the kids time for the Great Dictator, which was originally released in 1940. It's not the first time I've seen this masterpiece, but I was once more shocked by the force if its culminating speech:

"I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical.[...] More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…."

Read the full text of this memorable speech on charliechaplin.com (cf. bellow) - even after eighty years it remains (unfortunately) every bit as relevant today than it was when the film first released.

Charlie Chaplin: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator

The Great Dictator, wikipedia article