Review of Welles' Citizen Kane

Called the greatest film ever for decades Citizen Kane tells the story of the American dream gone awry. It poses the question of whether money and fame are better than an unspoiled, simple, childhood? The final scene presents this in symbolic form, with the sleigh imprinted with the word “rosebud” symbolizing Kanes’s lost childhood.

            Made in 1941 this film is, perhaps, a reflection of the prevailing depression era ideology. That money and fame are not as important as family and childhood surely left depression era audiences sympathizing with the character of Charles Foster Kane.

            Citizen Kane was one of the first great productions to be a “talkie.” Orson Welles plays the lead as well as director. Throughout the rest of his career he was unable to live down the magnitude of Citizen Kane. He never made a film that, sadly, lived up to the success of Citizen Kane.

            The plot is told through a series of flashbacks that are told in chronological order. Starting from Kane’s placement into the custodianship of Mr. Thatcher to his lonely death at Xanadu. This is a clever plot device indeed. Using flashback could be tricky. Keeping an audience attentive while following Kane’s live could’ve been confusing or even worse boring. But Welles pulls it off with greatness. He uses a repeat shot of his second wife’s interview to reinforce the narrative structure. The story is a lively journey through the career of a man born to wealth; thought to be based on William Randolph Hearst.

            The film also uses authorial selection to tell the story of Charles Foster Kane. Each flashback is told from a different perspective. First from his guardian Mr. Thatcher, then Mr. Bernstein, then his best friend, then his second wife, and finally his butler who was there at his death. All of the interviews are initiated by a journalist assigned the story of finding out what Kane meant when he said “rosebud” just before he died. The journalist never finds out what “rosebud” means, but the audience is left to ponder one of cinema history’s greatest cliffhangers.

            What is the symbolic value of the sleigh with the word “rosebud’ on it? It has to symbolize Kane’s lost childhood. Perhaps after all the wealth and fame Kane had resided to the fact that it would have been better to live an undisturbed live in Colorado rather than the live of a wealthy man of the world. I think the question is whether a capitalist society at it’s extremes of wealth is satisfying. Clearly, Kane can buy anything except high office. At the beginning of the film Kane is living the dream life of capitalist society, his young, extremely wealthy, and can choose his own way of life. By the end of the film he is a lonely, heartbroken man who longs to be back in Colorado, back to innocence, to childhood because money cannot replace a childhood, a mother, a sleigh.

            The film uses light and shadow effectively. Perhaps not too subtley, but just enough to increase the emotional intensity of character’s reaction. Used beautifully over Orson Welles face it shows him in the dark when he is experience a tough time. The film also uses over the shoulder shots to show Kane’s point of view.

            It also begins with news reel footage of Kane. This is a unique device used by Welles to tell Kane’s story. I thought it was a very effective tool. It sets up the narrative, it informs the audience, and it reveals the characters little by little. It inflates the character of Kane. It makes him a larger than life personality.

            There isn’t a better film that exemplies classical Hollywood style than Citizen Kane. It’s all there, the 180 degree axis, the shot reverse shot, the over the top angles, language, and characterization. The documentary beginning only adds to the intrigue and creative plot. I don’t think Citizen Kane is the best film ever made. I think other films have surpassed it. But, as I have said, it may be the best example of classical Hollywood filmmaking of the “golden age.”