The Kid By Charlie Chaplin – Film Review

The Kid by Charlie Chaplin was a film about the tale of a child whose mother deserted her baby hence the name of the title of the film The Kid. The Kid begins with a woman leaving a hospital after she has what I am assuming has given birth and by the reaction of the woman leaving hospital she doesn’t seem too enthusiastic by her facial expressions after leaving hospital and in an attempt to get rid of her burden she deserts her baby by leaving the infant in an open empty car on its own in order hoping whoever finds her child would raise it, without looking back the woman leaves the child in the car and walks off. Rather than the owner returning to the car what it seems like is two car thieves make off with the car and later discover that there is a child in the back seat crying, in order to not turn themselves in the pair leave the child in an alleyway and at a later time is discovered by who is known to me as Charlie picks up and carries the child, in attempt to find its mother Charlie unsuccessfully tries to give the baby to a nearby woman walking with a pram already having one baby placed in the pram, and after trying to rid his burden with this woman she dumps it back on him and Charlie has no other choice but to  take the child in and act as a father figure.

Five years on and the child grows up to have an amazing bond with Charlie as if he was the child’s actual father, as the film goes on the film reveals the child and fathers characters a lot more as the story unfolds and they work together by conning nearby neighbors by the kid smashing windows from people’s homes by throwing stones at them and running away, as neighbors are dissatisfied with their window being smashed it just so happens Charlie happens to walk passed carrying a spare window pretending to the neighbor he is a handy man and will fix the window for a small price. The living conditions of the boy and Charlie didn’t look the best but it looked as though they made do with what they had, in that sense as the audience I was sympathetic to Charlie and The Kid.

As the film went on the film made more sense and unraveled itself very well, as The Kids mother was a seemingly famous opera singer it seemed as though she had it all but as the audience it felt as though she was still missing something, she was still missing her child. As she went around town she crossed paths with her child a few times before coming to the realization that the child she has been come quite familiar with is in-fact her child, in the fight scene with the two children at one moment after the fight she carries the kid exactly how she carried the kid at the beginning of the film, the only thing that has changed is the fact that he is not a baby anymore. As she realizes this she is the mother and in an desperate attempt to find her child it is too late as the what looks like an orphanage director takes the kid because the doctor found out that Charlie isn’t the kids actual father. As this is happening there is a huge chase in the film as the kid’s mother and Charlie are both in pursuit to find the kid. As Charlie finds the kid they both go on the run but not for long as the kid gets brought back to his mother, the film ends by Charlie getting arrested and as a viewer you would assume he was going to jail in-fact he gets brought back to the mother and the film finishes.

What I liked about the film was the fact that this was a silent film made in the silent film era from around 1894 – 1929 and this film is watchable, I found it entertaining and for the film to not have context I still enjoyed it. The acting was theatrical and I found it to be quite funny, there were moments when speech cards would pop up to help the audience to understand what was being said so the audience wouldn’t be lost. The music of the film matched the tempo of what was happening in the scene for example; the fight scene, the music was fast paced and exciting to watch as a viewer whereas for the scene where the mother was looking to dump her child was quite slow and dramatic, the music played went very well with the scene and what was happening.

What I didn’t like about the film was absolutely nothing.

Ondre Roach

The Tale Of Kenji The Samurai

In a world where anything is possible, law and rules can be bent and to

us, an ancient war where civilization is not as we know it where one

emperor ruled Japan upholding law and order, dare anybody disobey,

the emperor would extract their souls for eternity in a sealing chamber

in which he carries under his right arm.

On a hot summer’s morning, a hero was born in Japan, a hero who will

Change the course of Ancient Japan forever. In a small town in Japan

called Okinawa the new born baby called Kenji will in the near future do

anything to free his town from the evil Emperor Jing who destroyed

Communities and anyone who stands in his way. The ancient tales tell

that the evil emperor Jing would look into your eyes, deep into your soul

and reveal your darkest thoughts before extracting your soul into his

gourd. The Emperor controls the whole of Japan and there has not

been anyone brave enough to stop Jing in his era of madness. Things

went well enough for a short time period; but the inevitable came at last.

Not all the people agreed with Jing’s ideas or his politics. Secret

enemies lurked at every corner but Emperor Jing was two steps ahead

and thought of strategic ways to counter-act his enemies, Emperor

Jing’s main tactic was to plant spies in villages across Japan to ensure

order was maintained and dare anyone betray Jing, he would extract

their souls for eternity.

Sixteen years later and Kenji had finally had enough and started to plot to assassinate the Emperor but Kenji needed training, as he hasn’t had any experience, at last an opportunity arrived. Jing, who had many secret agents trying to discover something to be reported to the Emperor against the small town of Okinawa. Once news got out about this, Kenji needed to find somebody to train him and quick. As people of the town

were too scared to even think of betraying Jing, apart from one, one which

once tried to in fact try to not only assassinate The Emperor Jing but also take out anybody who may be related to Jing in any way shape or form, but failed due to Jing’s personal body guards, the Sumo’s of Tenkakuta who not only beat Sensei but snapped his hips in three places leaving him not able to fight, his name is Sensei Myagi.

Kenji learned the story many times as a young boy growing up and never once think that he would go on a hunt to seek the legendary Sensei Myagi. Kenji searched all over his town in order to seek out Sensei Myagi but had no lead where he would be, as Kenji spent weeks looking for Sensei Myagi Kenji would still return home empty handed. The search became dire Kenji became extremely exhausted and decided to rest next to a forest, as Kenji rested, a boy dressed in torn garments walking freely next to the forest sat next to Kenji and asked why he was there, as the conversation went on the boy took a clear crystal ball from a sachet he carried on his right side and said “the man you seek has a snapped back, if you seek him walk to that shack” and pointed at a shack buried deep within the forest to the untrained eye you could easily miss. As Kenji slowly got up and cautiously walked towards the shack, Kenji turned round to thank the boy and as Kenji scanned the area, the boy was gone. As Kenji walked deep inside the forest Kenji noticed chants coming from the shack which made Kenji slightly on edge, Kenji crept forward until he stood by the door, Kenji took a deep inhale and knocked on the wooden door covered in termites, the door opened and stood before him was the man who once tried to take down the emperor and his army, Kenji was stood before Sensei Myagi. As Kenji imagined Sensei Myagi had a walking cane made from bamboo, a hip which looked like its been broken in three different places and a face like a man has been sucking on a thousand lemons, Kenji insisted that Sensei teaches him to fight in the ancient art of Kung Fu in order to put an end to the havoc Japan was under and to finish what Sensei Myagi started, in fear Sensei silences Kenji and revealed the damage of what will happen to those who defy the rules and laws of Emperor Jing. Kenji spent weeks at Sensei’s shack training to be the best he could be in the art of Kung Fu and Bujutsu and after three months and sixteen days, Kenji was finally ready.

As Kenji was finally ready to leave to go to the emperors castle Sensei had a gift for Kenji, “as you have surpassed me as, now a proud sensei you have exceeded far beyond what I could even dream of, take these with you for your journey, they were a major help to me I only hope that they’ll be for you.” Kenji received a scroll painted by Sensei himself directing him to the emperor’s castle and the last item… the last golden samurai sword in Japan, as Kenji reeled with excitement Kenji now had to put what he wanted to do for the sixteen years of his life finally into action, as Kenji said goodbye to Sensei Myagi he turned around and left the forest to now embark on his quest to assassinate The Emperor and all of his guards, as Kenji embarked on his journey it wasn’t only Kenji who was on the quest, he was being followed but not by a foe more by his loyal trusting companion Kira The Elephant.

After a long week of hunting and struggling to survive Kenji and Kira were almost at their destination, The Castle Of Lost Souls where he would either fail his mission by failing to assassinate The Emperor or succeed and free Japan from all evil. As Kenji arrived to the location drawn in fine Japanese ink highlighting when to strike, as Kenji approached the destination he waited till sundown for the perfect moment to strike.

As sundown got nearer Kenji prepared for battle, sharpening his sword was his main focus and second objective was to put Kira somewhere safe out of harms reach. As Kenji charged on the grounds, which the emperor’s guards were a loud horn, roared throughout the skies alerting the emperors army to make their way to the front of the castle. Arrows flew in every area of the sky in order to kill trespassers, as Kenji blocked and dodged every arrow that flew his way some were unlucky, as Kenji heard a loud roar behind him the sound made Kenji tremble with fear as he already knew what it was, Kira had been hit multiple times with arrows and was losing gallons of blood very quickly, Kenji knew she was going to die. As Kira took her last few breaths enraged Kenji ran to the frontline slaughtering 99 of Emperor Jing’s guards using the golden sword he acquired, leaving one guard to suffer as Kira did taking her last breath, as Kenji squared up to the guard immediately they clashed, as they exchanged blows with samurai swords Kenji overpowered the guard to the gravel and sliced the guards throat gaining full enjoyment by watching him suffer avenging Kira.

Alas Kenji made his way to the top of the tower bruised and tired, as Kenji laid eyes upon the emperor before he ran into the a secret door two more people stood in his way, The Emperor’s personal body guards the two sumo’s of Kanuta. As Kenji charged towards the sumo’s Kenji jumped over the two sumo’s and landed behind them facing their backs sliced and drove his sword in both causing them to bleed out, this moment Kenji decided to run into the secret room before the Emperor escaped. As Kenji bussed open the door prepared to battle with the emperor prepared to lose his life in order to save Japan what was about to happen threw Kenji off guard; the emperor surrendered. Kenji was dissatisfied with the emperors performance by surrendering and as a consequence of giving up Kenji finally got what he wanted and assassinated The Emperor by chopping his head off of his shoulders. In the ancient tale of The Emperor if his head was to be removed from his shoulders all the souls the emperor has claimed will be reincarnated into new life forms and the emperors soul will be trapped for eternity. As Kenji finally assassinated the emperor the slaves of Japan were finally free and as a reward named Kenji the new emperor of Japan and The Tale of Kenji the Samurai would be told throughout history.

The End.

Ondre Roach.