In his first speaking role, Charlie Chaplin makes one of the most moving and thought-provoking speeches in cinematic history. The Great Dictator, a movie written, produced, directed, and starring Charlie Chaplin, premiered on October 15, 1940, while the United States was still promoting appeasement with Nazi Germany.
This speech is still prevalent in today’s culture due to its pathos-evoking delivery and powerful message. Snippets of it can be heard in many places if you listen closely.
Paolo Nutini’s song Iron Sky contains parts of the speech in the bridge, making the song very powerful.
[Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator]
I’m sorry
But I don't want to be an Emperor
That's not my business
I don't want to rule or conquer anyone
I should like to help everyone if possible
Jew, Gentile
Black man, White
We all want to help one another
Human beings are like that
We want to live by each other's happiness
Not by each other's misery
We don't want to hate and despise one another
In this world there’s room for everyone and the good earth is rich
And can provide for everyone
The way of life can be free and beautiful
But we have lost the way
Greed has poisoned men's souls
Has barricaded the world with hate
Has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in
Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want
Our knowledge has made us cynical
Our cleverness hard and unkind
We think too much, and feel too little
More than machinery, we need humanity
More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness
Without these qualities life will be violent
And all will be lost
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together
The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men
Cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all
Even now, my voice is reaching millions throughout the world
Millions of despairing men, women, and little children
Victims of a system that makes men torture
And imprison innocent people
To those who can hear me I say
“Do not despair”
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed
The bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress
The hate of men will pass
And dictators die
And the power they took from the people
Will return to the people
And so long as men die
Liberty will never perish
Soldiers, don't give yourselves to brutes
Men who despise you, enslave you
Who regiment your lives
Tell you what to do, what to think, and what to feel
Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men
Machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts
You are not machines
You are not cattle
You are men
You have the love of humanity in your hearts
You don't hate
Only the unloved hate
The unloved and the unnatural
Soldiers, don't fight for slavery
Fight for liberty
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written
“The kingdom of God is within man”
Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men
In you, you the people
You the people have the power
The power to create machines
The power to create happiness
You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful
To make this life a wonderful adventure
Then in the name of democracy
Let us use that power
Let us all unite
Let us fight for a new world, a decent world
That will give men a chance to work
That will give youth a future
And old age a security
By the promise of these things brutes have risen to power
But they lie, they do not fulfill their promise
They never will
Dictators free themselves
But they enslave the people
Now let us fight to fulfill that promise
Let us fight to free the world
To do away with national barriers
Do away with greed
With hate and intolerance
Let us fight for a world of reason
A world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness
Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Look up! Look up!
The clouds are lifting, the sun is breaking through
We are coming out of the darkness into the light
We are coming into a new world
A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality
The soul of man has been given wings, and at last, he is beginning to fly
He is flying into the rainbow, into the light of hope, into the future
That glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us
Look up. Look up.
No comments:
Post a Comment