Modern Times

 I am well on record in my admiration for Charles Chaplin.  His feats of art and skill in romance and comedy have not been matched in the 100 years since.  He was a visionary the likes of which we are do to see again in our generation, but do not seem to have yet.  Nonetheless, there is something to the perception that his films are mere entertainment, fluffy, meaningless, and ultimately unimportant.

As if in answer to such accusations, although in reality from some deeper urge to comment on changing worlds conditions, he created Modern Times, and critics should consider themselves forever silenced.  To his already masterful art as writer, director, and performer, which in and of themselves are more than enough, he adds here insightful and timeless social commentary--executed with the same level of command.  

Everything he has to say about the lie of capitalism, and its effects on the humans under its yoke, is as true today as it was 90 years ago.  Equally true is the deaf ear upon which such warnings fall.  Now, as then, those who pull aside the veil of opportunity to reveal the leering bloodthirsty machine underneath are labelled as communists, lazy, or weak.  One looks at the way Chaplin was treated in his own time, and is left with a sour despair of humans ever learning his lessons.  His art, at least, endures.  Perhaps it is the only thing that ever can.