The director of the movie The Great Dictator was Charlie Chaplin who also played the two major roles in the movie. As such, the director’s political views can be clearly seen in the movie. The film hit the theaters during the World War II but before America entered the conflict against Germany. In fact, the film was released a year before America entered the war, during the time when Hitler and Germany attacked Russia and when Communism began to gain momentum in America as well.
Charlie Chaplin quickly became attracted to the new political ideas and while even before that he leaned towards communist ideas, during the time when he directed the movie it became clear he was a believer in communism. During those times, America tried to remain somewhat neutral, even though it did criticized the Nazi regime and their cruelty. At the same time, American politicians tried to not associate themselves with the communists, choosing to keep their distance and help the British when they could.
In the movie The Great Dictator, the director does not maintain the same neutral position. While it was considered as being natural to criticize the Germans, for the viewers of the time it came as a shock when they realized that though the movie, the Russians and the Communist ideal was promoted. Before the movie mentioned above, Chaplin introduced certain communist ideas such as equality in his previous movies as well but they were subtle enough to the point where they could be ignored. The Great Dictator on the other hand was a highly political film and it marked the beginning of Chaplin’s desire to create similar films as well.
While the previous films directed by Chaplin were largely positively received by the public, The Great Dictator was criticized because of its political message. Charlie Chaplin was criticized in the media for the ideas transmitted and the critics were not kind in criticizing both the director and the movie. Still, because of the initial negative reaction, the movie is now acclaimed as being a classic and a masterpiece.
