Film Studies
At the beginning of the film we can see many people who work very hard and quick and without any rewards. As a result of such work our main character gets nervous breakdown and he is put into the hospital. When he recovers, he finds out that the factory is closed and that shows that the country has the economical problems: it cannot keep workers, pay them salaries and it must be closed. All this results the massive strikes, because people want and need jobs in order to feed their families and themselves, they need to wear something etc. Chaplin shows all these moments.
Besides, there are a lot of unemployed people who show their aggressive behavior, they steal everywhere; they are put into jails as they are like animals because of the simple reason – they are hungry. We can see a scene where a child steals bananas just because she needs to feed her younger sisters who do not have mother and her unemployed father who will be killed later. In general we can observe chaos on the streets as people demand fair attitude to them. Also we can see that our main character played by Charlie Chaplin tries many times to be sent to the jail as he says himself that he is happy there. The reason is that he has the food there, he has the roof above his head, and he should not work for all those things all day and all night without any payment. So, he finds such a way out to go to jail regularly as the conditions there are really better than anywhere else.
While watching the film, I adored every moment of the film. It was made many years ago, almost a century ago, but it still touches deep into the heart. This film describes the reality of life which concerns everyone. Even now we have problems with jobs, salaries, and the economical crisis exists all over the world. Of course, the scale of it is not so big, but still a lot from the film is topical nowadays. Besides, when you see the movie you laugh a lot as you easily understand the humor of the previous century. And I am sure, if the film is topical and important nowadays after so many years, and the person of Charlie Chaplin is still deeply discussed, the power of his work cannot be faded.
Work Cited
Jamerson Videos e Tutorials, Charlie Chaplin – Modern Times (1936), YouTube, Web, Retrieved at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BMci5E1HqA
