Chaplin (1992)

The movie "Chaplin" by Richard Attenborough impresses with a lot of important historical information. Beside the life of Charles Chaplin there is a lot to learn about the time he lived in. I especially liked his opinion about America. Once he said to his mom something about America and Hollywood like; This is the land of possibilities, you cam do everything here. So I could see, that this really was the time when the American Dream was still alive. One thing I liked about the movie was, that the story was told as flashback. The old Chaplin gave his opinion about certain things in is life, which really makes him human for me.You also could see and experience the development of his character. I mean that like this: The old Chaplin first seemed pretty strange for me. But step by step his life made me understand how he became who he was. Maybe it is because Chaplin was a special and quiet, but the movie is more educating than exiting. Everything happens pretty slow and there is no tension. I definitively got a good view in the time that Chaplin lived in, but I would not watch the movie at home.

Honestly before I watched Chaplin I didn't know much, all I knew was that he was a very popular actor who wore a black hat and had a cane. However, after watching the film I learned that when he was only 14 he put his mother in an asylum and after that began his career in a vaudeville theatre. after he travelled to America and was then hired in movie theatre where he was limited to what he wanted to do. I found it really amazing how he started his own film studio and started making films of his own and when sound came into the world he resisted because he thought the films were more realistic and didn't want to force sound into them because they would lose their simple comedy. I also learned that when he left America for a holiday he was banned and wasn't allowed to return.I think Charlie Chaplin is still famous today because as a film director in the 1900s he was always extremely focused on what he wanted to film and how he wanted to film it and didn't let others change the way he wanted to do things.Personally I loved the film and especially the way it was filmed, the way they went through his childhood was perfect and I never got tired or bored of it. I was constantly attached to it and i think Robert Downey Jr. was perfect for the role with his somewhat sarcastic attitude.

For me this movie was really good and really interesting, because I think that Charles Chapling is one of the biggest icon of the cinema history. Knowing more about who was him and how did he become an actor was good. In my point of view Robert Downey Jr. made a really good work in this film, but that the character of Charles Chapling was a little challenging for him, because represent such an important person in the history, for me, has to be kind of "perfect", i mean, give the character the authenticity that Charles used to have might be pretty difficult, and Robert made a really good job on that. I will recommend this movie to the film lovers, and the people who enjoy the cinema. I also particularly like the way that this movie is filmed, it has the style of the oldest films, and it makes it look more real, like it was actually Charles Chapling's documental, and not a new modern movie that talks about him.

Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey Jr.) is recalling memories for his autobiography writer George Hayden (Anthony Hopkins). As a child in England, Chaplin witnesses his mother Hannah Chaplin (Geraldine Chaplin) chased off the stage by a crowd and he immediately takes over to be a big hit. The cops take him and his brother Syd (Paul Rhys) for the workhouse. His mother goes mad and he puts her in the sanitarium. He gets hired by music hall producer Fred Karno (John Thaw). He falls for fellow performer Hetty Kelly (Moira Kelly). Producer Mack Sennett (Dan Aykroyd) hires him for the new flickers. Hetty gets married and Charlie meets secretary Edna Purviance (Penelope Ann Miller) who he turns into his actress. He befriends Douglas Fairbanks (Kevin Kline) and marries 16 year old child actress Mildred Harris (Milla Jovovich) after she lies about being pregnant. He angers J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn) before he becomes the head of the FBI. He divorces Mildred and marries Lita Grey whom he hates. Then he marries Paulette Levy (Diane Lane) whom he loves. Joan Barry (Nancy Travis) has boobs and sues him falsely successfully for paternity. He marries Oona O'Neill (Moira Kelly again). He is accused of being a communist.Richard Attenborough is trying to stuff so much of a big life into one movie. Sometimes things feel skipped over or given a limited treatment. Characters come in and out like a rotating door. The production value is sufficiently high but there isn't enough time to get it all in. The real story is understandably simplified and Attenborough tries to give it a surreal connected treatment... sometimes. There is no doubt that Robert Downey Jr. does an excellent job especially with the physical comedy. His performance is better than the film as a whole.