A brutal whiplash on the capitalist system can be an ideal way to describe Charlie Chaplin’s Modern times. One can rarely find an instance like this film in the history of cinema which can be so meticulous in its criticism of a socio-economic system and still emerge as a timeless entertainer.

In this film, Chaplin’s tramp is a factory worker who survives a series of mishaps with fellow misfit, a ‘gamin’ played by Paulette Goddard to finally fall in love with her against a backdrop marked with economic, social and political unrest. However, even this simple linear plot opens up an array of cinematic delight of every kind in hands of the iconic Charlie Chaplin. The apparent slapstick nature of the film heated up by measured amount of sharp social lampooning makes the film an eternal classic.

The film primarily derives its strength from the characterization of the tramp by Chaplin who kicks up his heels through unemployment, poverty, and love nevertheless emphasizing the predicament of the working class, the “proletariat up in arms”. Sequences such as Chaplin working on the conveyor belt, the feeding machine, the experience of a bizarre manifestation of nervous breakdown, the antics in prison, his short lived stint as a night guard, his ‘family life’ with the gamin and the singing steward in a luxurious restaurant are extremely well crafted which bring both the element of sublime delight and the bitter pathos which form the hallmark of Chaplin and the film.