An unsettling mix of great slapstick and cause for alarm.

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2016)

I find the comedy bits hilarious, in spite of the fact that it's a Nazi holocaust film, and I find the dramatic bits terrifying, in spite of this being a parody.
Alternating between Chaplin the dictator and Chaplin the Jewish barber shop owner keeps this film at an energetic up and down pace. The third act is sillier than I would have expected it to be, and in some ways it is anti-climactic, but the speech at the end is very beautiful and satisfying.
It's unsettling and Chaplin himself regrets making this film, but this film serves as a window toward how people viewed Hitler before the extent of his actions was revealed. It's hard not to extrapolate that death camps are the next step after the persecution of Jews, but hindsight is 20-20.