Modern Times

"One of Chaplin's great works, 'Modern Times' is one of the greatest triumphs of comedy, celebrated to this day as an important milestone in the director and actor's career. Besides being a masterpiece of the genre, the movie still has a very relevant social character. On first analysis, there is a critique of industrial society and the increasing automation of the workday and the precariousness of working conditions, consequences of the Fordist system. In the background, however, there is another subtext to this film: 'Modern Times' reflects Chaplin's career in a transitional period where silent cinema was becoming outdated. By releasing such a remarkable silent film at a time of modern times where dialogues dominated the cinemas, Chaplin proved that silent films were not made for mere technological restriction, but that they had their own unique charm and merit, and that they would be irreplaceable. Finally, Chaplin still plays with this transition in an extremely sagacious way: he only makes one scene with sound, for the first time we can hear his voice in the history of cinema, and it is emblematic that in this first appearance of his voice, all he says are incomprehensible gibberish, mere blather."