Charlie Chaplin's THE KID. The film that still challenges a world's conscious.

A recent lawsuit filed in Chicago alleges that state run orphanages have rampant sex abuse and forced prostitution of children. THE KID decades ago, tried to warn us.

Photo: Jackie Coogan was a vaudeville actor who became a national child star after THE KID.

THE KID today, decades after it was made, has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is a powerhouse of a movie. But it is a movie that Chaplin had actually lived. Abandoned as a child, taking any job he could to avoid the government run hell holes known as “work houses” THE KID was his way of dealing with his past and present. Before filming started, Chaplin had lost an infant at birth. I believe that made the tie between him and Jackie Coogan so strong in the film. This is a 22 minute documentary about Chaplin’s tragic life:

It would be uplifting to write that the film actually changed the horrific abuse that goes on in government run youth homes. But that would be a lie:

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 95 men and women who claim they were sexually abused while housed at youth centers throughout Illinois.

The complaint accuses the state of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) of failing to protect the plaintiffs from adult employees sexually abusing them.

"The state of Illinois has caused and permitted a culture of sexual abuse to flourish unabated in its IYC facilities," the complaint says. "Upon information and belief, the State of Illinois is aware (and has for decades been aware) that the conditions identified above as connected to sexual abuse and conditions of juvenile detention facilities were and are endemic to all IYC facilities"

Child abuse built in to Youth Centers in Illinois

Well, at least the church is there to help. Or is it?

Catholic Diocese of Springfield accused in federal lawsuit of concealing child sex abuse

In a federal lawsuit filed by 11 individuals, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau and its Bishop Edward Rice in his official capacity are accused of enabling and concealing sexual abuse of minors by employees that took place over decades.

Filed Sept. 12 in U.S. District Court's Western District of Missouri, the lawsuit demands $75 million for the victims, who allege they experienced sexual abuse in the 1980s and 1990s. The lawsuit names seven different priests and clergy, only one of whom appears on the diocese's published list of clergy with allegations of abuse, which was last updated September 2023.

"The Diocese and Bishop did not act in any manner to protect the young children of its parishes, churches, community, and other organizations within its (area of operation)," the complaint filed in court reads. "To the contrary, the Bishop and Diocese engaged in several decades of intentional misconduct in turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse of its priests and other employees."

Yet another Church based lawsuit for protecting abusers

Not that the problem has been fixed in socialist nations either. China has nothing like the social services capitalism has. A child who has lost a parent or parents and is not taken in by relatives, is on their own. They often join gangs, if they survive.

There was a film released in China in 2023 titled NEVER SAY NEVER. The film, which was approved by the Chinese Communist Party, is about the children abandoned and a man who decides to help them- by setting up a boxing league so that the children can box to survive! Here is the trailer:

Keep in mind, Marx wrote nothing about social services for abandoned kids, just as he never recognized women’s rights. China has no reason to help orphans. Nor does any socialist government.

The Church has had a problem with sex abuse going back centuries. The idea that confession absolves you of abuse, which is not in the 10 commandments, has attracted child abusers for a long time. Given protection, being moved if caught, being protected from lawsuits made the Church a magnate for child abusers. To this day, the press is afraid to report the Church is fighting almost all the lawsuits.

Perhaps all this is why THE KID speaks to audiences today as it did decades ago. All of us know, though we may not want to admit it, that the abuse has been going on for decades. But how do you change a government agency? How do you reform a church?

Charlie Chaplin used his celebrity to explore what happens to the powerless, those who have no lobby money to make a politician listen, and he created a masterpiece.

Here is a 25 minute documentary on the making of THE KID:

Here is the film with the music soundtrack by Chaplin: