Review of The Real Charlie Chaplin

An insightful documentary which manages to largely follow the man's entire life whilst trying, largely successfully, to understand and articulate his motivations and aching doubts. He remains highly regarded and it is hard to understand now how incredibly popular and loved he was. He was though not a particularly nice man and seemed to find affection for others difficult, until possibly in his old age. The nonsensical communist paranoia that plagued the US finally got him and he had to live his later years in Switzerland which often seems here so very sad, particularly given the somewhat hypocritical Oscar he received in his last few years.

I rather liked Pearl Mackie's rather affectionate narration, which made a nice change from the usual Walter Cronkite type austerity.