Chaplin

Delivering a worthy portrayal as Charles Chaplin seems like an insurmountable task, but Robert Downey Jr. proved to be adroit and became the most talked about thing in Richard Attenborough’s film. Despite some critisisms that it skims over important parts of his life while focusing too long on others, this might be one of the best Hollywood Bio pics yet made.

Film

Born into poverty, Chaplin took to the stage almost as soon as he could speak. Tirelessly he tried to advance his career, first by acting on stage and screen, then to directing, composing, and ultimately becoming a Hollywood mogul and co-founder of United Artists.

Chaplin’s life was so immense that it is hard to imagine encapsulating it in a single film. Not just because of his talents as a performer, but his personal life was ceaselessly jaded by family woes, relationship and political controversies, which included his expulsion from the United States. Attenborough made a noble effort to face this challenge, and presents a decent, albeit fast-paced, biography. Some parts of his life might seem clipped but any hasty storytelling can be forgiven because of the spectacular cast presenting it.

Not enough can be said about Robert Downey Jr’s performance. Downey manages to convey Chaplin’s demons with utter dignity, all the while never losing the ability to mimic Chaplin’s clowning to a tee. It has been said that Attenborough felt confident enough in said performance that he could splice in actual Chaplin footage, and he was right to do so. When Downey is playing Chaplin, while performing in a film within the film, I completely forget that it is not the genuine article, be it in black and white or colour.

I could list the merits of the entire supporting cast, but to save time I shall briefly make mention of my two favourites. First is Kevin Kline who simply oozed charm while portraying Douglas Fairbanks, and my second pick would have to be Geraldine Chaplin who portrayed her own grandmother so lovingly and yet as so disturbingly broken.

In no way should this be a completely satisfactory profile of Chaplin, it should be a launching point. If one, for some reason, needs something more modern to present Chaplin, this film does a very good job at introducing the man and his work. From here, his films should be mandatory viewing (many of them should be no matter what in my humble opinion).

Video

Widescreen 1.78:1. The blacks are very crisp in this, which is essential when you consider how prevalent black is in Chaplin’s work as well as on his Tramp costume. There are some darker scenes where a slight fuzziness appears on the picture, but never enough to be truly disrupting nor disappointing from the 1080p delivery.

Audio

English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. The sentimental sounding score is rather lushed but could have used a nice Surround sound treatment to be fully appreciated and complete the immersion experience. All things considered, this is a well mixed soundtrack. The dialogue and music are able to play off of each other without disturbance.

Special Features

The first three features all stem from the same set of interviews with the filmmakers and interested critics.

Strolling into the Sunset: Reflections on the creation of the film. In this featurette, Attenborough admits to the challenges of the film’s vision, and that it was lighter that it was not as thorough as he had hoped.

Chaplin the Hero: This is concentrated praise for Chaplin’s brilliance by the interviewees.

The Most Famous Man in the World: Profiling Chaplin’s significance during his heyday. Of the three segments, this last one offers the most unique material.

“All at Sea”: This is a real treat, an actual home movie shot and edited by Chaplin. The family goof around and even do some visual impressions of 1930s celebrities and politicians. An amusing short.

Bookmarks: This is an option to place markers onto parts of the film. This is a godsend to any teacher wishing to present this in a classroom.

Trailers: Self-explanatory.

Final Thoughts

In many ways, this film is just as much a love letter to the earliest years of film as it is tribute to an individual who would become the most famous person on Earth for a time. As romanticized as it is, this film’s charms are undeniable.