In 1949, the critic James Agree called City Lights’ final scene “the greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid”, which I’d have to agree with. It moves me to tears every time I see it. City Lights is so moving, funny, truthful, tragic, energetic and yet, so simple. It is about love, sacrifice and seeing people for who they are.
People see “The Tramp” in different ways. He is often received as either a joke or a nuisance. The tragedy lies in how, as a homeless person, people treat him like he’s inhuman. Every time I pass a homeless person in the street, I feel a pain in my heart. I often wonder how we can just walk past them and ignore them. Chaplin showed how homeless people are treated and he shows us all that we should see the humanity in them and in everyone. “The Tramp” is actually a beautiful person. He saves a rich man’s life and finds a way to give “The Blind Girl” a lot of money, in order for her to have an operation to cure her blindness. He always thinks of others. He never puts himself first.
When I was in high school, we went on a class field trip to feed the homeless. We ran out of sandwiches to give out and this one homeless man was furious. We tried to apologize to him but he was, understandably, upset. Another homeless man offered to split his sandwich with him. Our principal told us all not to ever forget what we just saw. That a man who had nothing but a sandwich was willing to share it. This moment changed my life, just like this film did. Often in life, we only see the surface of a person. Either what they have, what their job is, how they dress and we rarely go deeper. We sum people up based on something superficial and we miss out on getting to know the humanity in others. 
 
Charlie Chaplin encourages us to probe deeper. To connect with people, to love them, to be generous with them and even to save them.
 
How does Chaplin say so much with a film and leave us laughing and crying all at the same time? The mystery is part of his genius.
 
You can watch “City Lights” at the TIFF Bell Lightbox this Sunday, May 18th at 4:00 PM EST.