The film was released in 1940. The Nazis have already launched World War II and are invading France after annexing Poland. It took Chaplin two years to prepare the script. If he was faster and published his work in 38 or 39, he might have made even greater achievements. But the flaws are not concealed. When the Nazis swept across Europe and the world was shrouded in the dark clouds of war, Chaplin, with the conscience of a filmmaker, unmistakably stated his position to war madmen: justice will prevail. , The Nazis will be defeated.
As far as I know, the situation in the United States at that time was not optimistic. The domestic Nazist groups were as arrogant as the German headquarters. The anti-communist forces in the government also repeatedly launched "investigations" against Chaplin, but Chaplin was not. Moved. In fact, Chaplin invested his 1.5 million US dollars in this film, taking a desperate approach. The film achieved great box office success, but it did not win an Oscar.
It is said that Hitler also watched the film at the time, and I don't know what the real dictator felt after watching the film. Of course, the film was strictly banned in Europe under the Nazi rule. If anyone secretly watched it, it would probably be pulled out by the Gestapo and shot at midnight. But justice is in the hearts of the people. Now the so-called superman and superior race have been cast aside by history. However, people still laugh when they see Chaplin's films.
I wonder why Chaplin, an Englishman who lives in the United States, can care so much about the dire life of the European people on the other side of the Atlantic. Westerners say that human rights are superior to sovereignty. It can be said that this is not empty talk. Regardless of government policies, people do not apply double standards in international and domestic affairs. Although there are still many problems in China's political field, even if we use our own imperfect domestic political standards to measure the world, there are still many countries that are far from this standard, and many of them are "brother countries" in the Third World. In some countries, it is not an exaggeration to call it a rogue. Other countries have imposed a cruel rule on their people no less than Hitler. What to do with such a country, I believe the United States has the same headache as us. However, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait clearly violated international law and should be severely punished. It is a pity that our people have not yet shaken off social Darwinism in the concept of diplomacy, and that everything comes first. It's not that this is bad, but the whole society has only this kind of voice, which is a bit chilling. Don't people in other countries have their own rights?
When we praise anti-Nazi heroes, we should think about why we have not become such heroes. Some people lack courage, some lack ability, and the saddest may be those who think they lack nothing.
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