A film I really like is Modern Times, where Charles Chaplin appears as the protagonist. This is a movie about modernity and, how this process affected the daily life of people. I am using the word “affected” and not “changed” with a clear intention; putting in discussion the motto of modernity which was “progress for society” which is portrayed and argued ironically in this movie.
The film starts showing a herd of pigs running together and next to that scene it shows a crowd of people running to their jobs rapidly. This two scenes show a direct analogy between pigs and men. At this point the film starts its sarcastic way of showing modernity. At this point appears Chaplin, working in a factory where he supposedly had to be adjusting nuts repeatedly. So the protagonist after been working too hard starts feeling stressed and then he had a nervous breakdown and he is sent to the hospital where he spends a week there. After that period, he feels better and goes out for a walk when suddenly he is sent to jail for a misunderstanding. In jail he meets many people who showed him how the life inside the prison was. After being in jail Chaplin is set free and then he meets a girl which he felt in love with immediately. Chaplin and the girl pass for many difficulties to get stability in order to buy a house to live.
What I liked the most about this movie is that it shows in a funny and easy way how the life was for the people who were living the process of modernity. It also illustrates what processes affected their calm and relaxed life and what social problems brought modernity hidden under the beautiful speech of “progress”.
It is good to see that with a short budget and without huge special effects this movie knew how to convey its message; put into discussion the progress of modernity.
As I mentioned before the main character is Charles Chaplin and he portrayed vividly how modernity affected his life, his mind and his sanity. For instance, he was sent to hospital for been too workaholic.
I think that this is a very good movie for being aware that our social problems are not new but, most of them started with modernity and even though modernity started centuries ago, as society we still have the same problems than in those times.
Finally, I would like to invite people to watch this film because is a movie that every person in the world should watch in order to understand when our social problems started. Besides, also this content is shown in a funny and simple way in order to do not get bored to the audience. As an advice; watch this movie in family!
