Classic Chaplin film shown to workers

LOS TEQUES, Venezuela
In his classic 1936 film, "Modern Times," Charlie Chaplin has to work so fast tightening bolts in a steel factory that he finally goes crazy.

In one scene that has become a metaphor for labor exploitation, the Little Tramp is run through the factory's enormous gears.

For President Hugo Chavez's socialist government, the film is more than entertainment: It has become a teaching tool. Since January, in a bid to expose the evils of capitalism, the Labor Ministry has shown the Chaplin film to thousands of workers.

Once the showings at factories or meeting halls end, Labor Ministry officials use Chaplin's plight to spell out workers rights under new occupational safety laws.

Among the factory employees who have related to the film was Roberto Maldonado, 29, who works at the Pollo Premium poultry plant, which processes 75,000 chickens a day.

"The owners still value their machines more than their workers," Maldonado said. "Charlie Chaplin ends up crazy, and I feel that way too sometimes."

But the business community is up in arms over the screenings. In a formal complaint to Chavez last month, the four main employer associations said that showing the movie was designed to "satanize the employer."