"Modern Times" is a classic comedy film directed and starring Charlie Chaplin, released on February 25, 1936. The story of this film takes place during the economic depression of the 1930s in the United States. Worker Charlie (Chaplin) works in a factory, goes mad, and enters a mental hospital. All of these are closely related to the existential crisis that the economic crisis at that time brought to people. contact. In the difficult life, Charlie and the orphaned daughter are immersed in each other, and the scene is warm and touching, full of the brilliance of humanity. The Modern Times is considered one of the greatest films in American cinema and one of Charlie Chaplin's most famous works. The plot of the whole film revolves around Charlie's unemployment and job hunting, which reflects the difficult living conditions of ordinary workers at that time. Spicy and sharp satire, superb acting skills, warm and touching love story with human radiance, make this film still glow with immortal charm. Chaplin's movies all have their own style. Chaplin will pay attention to the fate of the little people, and integrate the humanitarian spirit and social criticism into the comedy plot, so that the work has a depth of thought that is difficult for comedy movies for the purpose of funny. This film went beyond a purely tragic theme and dared to touch the ills of the society at that time. It was regarded by American right-wing politicians as a dangerous work with a certain "red communist tendency". The film expresses various social phenomena in the "modern era" from four aspects: 1. The conflict between man and machine 2. The conflict between the masses and the elite 3. The living conditions of laborers 4. Their longing for life is in the opening shot of the film , the director used a fixed-lens medium shot to shoot, first the flock of sheep walked together, and then a large group of workers walked into the factory with support, the form was close, giving people the feeling of wanting to laugh for a lifetime, and at the same time making People's deep thinking about the social form that caused "mechanization". It is a metaphor that the fate of the workers is the same as that of the sheep, and Charlie is one of those hundreds. For another example, the film also reminds the contradiction between ideal and reality through luxurious carbonized shops, fantasy garden villas and real dilapidated wooden houses. "Modern Times" is Chaplin's last silent film. The theme of the film is very deep and thought-provoking. I like it very much.
View more about Modern Times reviews
