That speech is honestly one of the best speeches I have ever heard. I think it is
right up there with Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech. It is very powerful and moving.
the speech is definitely the reason for this film. it made the rest of the film worth it... (I admire the stance and risk Chaplin took, but dear lord this film needed editing and was pretty boring. and no, I'm not into Tramsformers.)
shareI thought it was completely inappropriate, undeserved, and not something that the barber character would ever say.
shareNo offense intended, but I think you missed the point.
This speech isn't the barber talking to the people gathered in the rally, but Chaplin talking to the movie audience and people of the world.
Remember that this was 1940. Hardly any TVs and people visited cinemas. Chaplin was very popular so his film was to be seen by a very large audience. The Nazis led by Hitler had already created a racist reality (which was not necessarily known to everyone in the world), and post invasion of Austria and Czechoslovakia, a little into WWI.
Chaplin used this speech and popularity to deliver an anti-fascism speech. It was not supposed to be the barber.
Well, it was supposed to be the Barber, given that he addresses Hannah at the end of the speech, but yeah, you could say he was "possessed", as it were, by Chaplin during these moments. These words were indeed out of character for the barber, especially since he quotes the Gospel of Mark, something I can't imagine any Jew doing.
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