Twenty years after the end of WWI, in which the nation of Tomainia was on the losing side, Adenoid Hynkel has risen to power as the ruthless dictator of the country. He believes in a pure Aryan state and the decimation of the Jews. This situation is unknown to a simple Jewish-Tomainian barber who has since been hospitalized as a result of the WWI battle. Upon his release, the barber, who had been suffering from memory loss about the war, is shown the new persecuted life of the Jews by many living in the Jewish ghetto, including a washerwoman named Hannah, with whom he begins a relationship. Commander Schultz, who he saved in that WWI battle, ultimately spares the barber such persecution. The lives of all Jews in Tomainia are eventually spared with a policy shift by Hynkel himself, who is doing so for ulterior motives. But those motives include a want for world domination, starting with the invasion of neighboring Osterlich, which may be threatened by Benzino Napaloni, the dictator.This movie has been declared as The 35th Best Film Of All Time by City lights.
Classics
1940
2 hr 5 min
92%
10+
G
Starring
Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Henry Daniell
