Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane; drama, USA, 1941; D: Orson Welles, S: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, Paul Stewart, William Alland, Agnes Moorehead

Enormous castle Xanadu, somewhere in Florida. Before its owner, the old millionaire Charles Foster Kane, dies, he utters his last words: "Rosebud". The newsreel sums up Kane's public life, but a reporter decides to investigate his rarely heard private life. He questions Kane's second wife, Susan, and friend Leland. He discovers Kane was born to a poor family, but upon discovering gold on their property, his mother sent him to live and be educated by Mr. Thatcher so that he can become wealthy. In New York, Kane took over the Enquirer newspaper and got married to Emily. But when he was a candidate for the President, his reputation was destroyed when his opponent revealed his relationship with singer Susan. The reporters fail to find out anything about "Rosebud". Some men throw Kane's old things into the fire: among them his old sled named Rosebud.

It is probably unnecessary to point out that "Citizen Kane", the directorial debut of Orson Welles is considered to be a masterpiece and even "the best film of all time" by some critics, including the American Film Institute. Of course, there is no such thing as a film that will please absolutely everyone, and thus it is possible that one man's masterpiece can be an other man's bad film, which explains why numerous people do not understand "Kane's" reputation and question what is so special about its two hours of running time that distinguish it so much from thousands of others two hour films. Indeed, it is a very demanding and heavy film, and already the first 10 minutes of it are so complicated and crammed with numerous details and cinematic techniques that some will probably abandon it. But precisely the fact that the authors placed so many details and visual innovations on such a small scale shows why "Kane's" two hours are worth more than four hours of some other films. Because of its hermetic nature and highly complicated style, it seems remarkably modern even today. Welles shows a rich movie language with an incredible visual style: shot compositions; unusual camera angles; scene transitions (the opening in which the light from the window of the mansion transitions seven times (!) to a closer and closer shot of it; around 23 minutes into the film, there is an 18-year (!) jump cut when guardian Thatcher says: "Merry Christmas" to a kid Kane, but as he adds "...And a Happy New Year!", Thatcher is older, and Kane is now 25-years old); a photo of the staff of the Chronicle newspaper becomes "alive" in next scene; a hand darkens the whole lens of the camera... 

But despite all of those tricks, there lies a touching, humane, intimate story of the main hero, a rich man without happiness, an empty shell of a person. Kane isn't a robot, he can even be charming at times: when Mr. Thatcher accosts him for losing a million $ a year for running a private newspaper, Kane replies: "At this rate, I'll have to close this place... in 60 years". The legendary sequence where his dying words are "Rosebud" just shows how he achieved great success, luxury, riches and power, but realized it all went nowhere, because he felt his life was hollow: his political career, business plans and marriages all failed. With time, his sources of happiness vanished and became worthless, starting with something as banal as his sled: at the time, he was truly happy in that period of his life, but was forgotten with time, as did his other, later sources of happiness. At the end, he just wants to go back to those simple, happy times from childhood. Whether Kane is based on a real person is besides the point, since its emphasis was to show how wealth alone will not fill the gaps in lives of celebrities. There is this great sequence that is rarely mentioned in reviews of this film, but is essential to demonstrate that theme: after his divorce, the old Kane realizes how nothing matters in his life. He starts wrecking everything in his room: furniture, statues, lamps, until he stops at the only thing that means something to him, a snow glass ball that reminds him of "Rosebud", and quietly leaves, passing by a set of mirrors that reflect his image within the image. "Kane" is a great film precisely because it combined substance and style into a marvelous match.

Grade:++++