Apabila Seorang Bisu Mula Berkata Kata Kelu Satu Dunia Dibuatnya

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Siapa sangka Charlie Chaplin yang terkenal dengan lakonannya dalam filem bisu dan tidak berwarna di zaman 1920an mampu menggoncang dunia melalui sebuah ucapan dalam filem bersuara yang pertama arahannya sendiri, The Great Dictator (1940).

Skrip dialog terakhir Charlie Chaplin dalam filem 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. And this world has 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 17th Chapter of St 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 have the power, the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this 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 that 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, to 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!"
Mesej yang sangat padu dan bertenaga dari seorang pelakon yang terkenal dengan watak bisunya. Namun sekali dia bersuara, terkelu lidah satu dunia dibuatnya.
Latarbelakang Filem The Great Dictator
Pada awalnya semasa filem bersuara mula diperkenalkan dalam industri perfileman di tahun 1930an, Charlie Chaplin menghadapi masalah untuk mengikut trend baru ini kerana telah lama selesa menghasilkan filem tanpa suara. Tambahan pula dia bimbang sekiranya watak lakonan ciptaannya The Tramp akan hilang tarikan di kalangan peminatnya apabila mula bersuara. The Tramp merupakan inspirasi bagi watak Mr Bean oleh Rowan Atkinson bagi siri komedi Mr Bean pada tahun 1990an. Oleh itu Charlie Chaplin enggan membuat filem bersuara walaupun permintaan untuk filem bersuara amat tinggi pada masa itu. Malah, wataknya cuma pernah menyanyi dalam lirik yang tak masuk akal ala Minion dalam filem Modern Times (1936).
Akhirnya Charlie Chaplin menjadi tertekan dalam kerjayanya kerana dia tahu lambat-laun dia terpaksa menghasilkan filem bersuara juga untuk mengekalkan periuk nasinya. Dia mengambil cuti daripada dunia perfileman selama 16 bulan dengan melancong ke Eropah dan Jepun. Charlie Chaplin hampir hendak bersara dan menghabiskan masa tuanya di China, namun selepas perceraian dengan isteri ketiganya dia kembali ke Amerika Syarikat untuk menghasilkan filem The Great Dictator.
Charlie Chaplin mendapat idea untuk menghasilkan skrip The Great Dictator berdasarkan pengalamannya semasa berada di Jerman di zaman pemerintahan Nazi serta hubungannya dengan rakan-rakan artis berbangsa Yahudi. Akibat sering dimomokkan oleh masyarakat kerana beberapa persamaan antara Charlie Chaplin dan Adolf Hitler - gaya misai yang sama, latarbelakang kehidupan yang susah sebelum menjadi terkenal, dan tarikh lahir yang hampir sama - Charlie Chaplin bercadang untuk membuat filem komedi bertemakan kegelapan peperangan pada zaman itu dengan konsep jalan cerita The Prince and The Pauper. Dia menjalankan keseluruhan produksi filem ini dari pemilihan pelakon sehinggalah ke gubahan lagu, dan selesai penggambaran dalam masa 6 bulan.
Walaupun filem The Great Dictator memenangi Anugerah Pelakon Terbaik, Anugerah Skrip Terbaik dan Anugerah Filem Terbaik, namun ia mencetuskan kontroversi di kalangan masyarakat sehingga menyebabkan Charlie Chaplin diboikot oleh sesetengah pihak atas faktor politik sehingga dibuang daerah dari Amerika Syarikat. Watak ikonik The Tramp juga terkubur selepas filem ini.

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