Reflecting on the film ‘The Great Dictator’
Words by GP’s President Rafael González:
“Grand Performances welcomed a full house last Friday for a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Watching hundreds of Angelenos gather outdoors for a film released in 1940, one that dared to speak out against tyranny when so many stayed silent, was unforgettable and emotional.
I grounded the evening in both history and urgency: that art has always been more than entertainment. It is a force for resistance, truth-telling, and solidarity.
My friend and former Grand Performances President Michael Alexander joined me on stage with a moving reflection about the courage of Chaplin’s vision and the continued relevance of the film. He reminded us, sharing a tattered Chaplin filmography book his dog chewed up, that when Chaplin used his art to confront fascism, it was a radical act. It carried risk but also the possibility of awakening audiences to their shared humanity.
As I watched the film, I laughed at the absurdity of power and cried silently at the oppression of the people. As I turned around me, others did the same. I couldn’t help but think about how Chaplin portrayed the persecution of Jews in 1940. Today, in real time, we see Mexicans, other Latinos, Asian Pacific Islanders, facing similar scapegoating, profiling, hunting, imprisonment, and dehumanization from the Trump Administration. The echoes are unmistakable, different era, same tactics of division.
I bring it back to Grand Performances and its mission. When we present films like The Great Dictator or host artists who tell their stories freely, we affirm that everyone belongs. I belong. You belong. We belong. We honor self-preservation, ignite imagination, and make joy itself an act of resistance.
At the close of the evening, I shared my own reflections and personal story. My family lived through the injustices Chaplin warned against: deportations in the 1970s, and even earlier during Operation Wetback in the 1950s, when my relations were forcibly removed. These moments scarred many generations, leaving behind a collective trauma that haunts me and many folks I know and don’t know to this day. At the same time, we built in us a resilience, a determination to overcome and to fight for a space for belonging and a place at the table.
Looking ahead, advancing a better future means protecting immigrant families from separation and injustice, supporting cultural institutions that connect us, and standing in solidarity across communities so that dignity is never compromised.
Friday night was more than a screening. It was a reminder that, as Chaplin said in his timeless speech: we are not machines, we are human beings. And our shared humanity is worth fighting for.
I invite you to support this vision: stand with immigrant communities, invest in the arts as a space of resistance and joy, and join us at Grand Performances as we continue creating free cultural experiences that bring Los Angeles and the world together.”