Film Classics: Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is arguably the greatest movie ever made. Everything from the photography to the story is meticulously plotted and formulated to relay the director’s precise vision. It’s a story of great impact, depth, and feeling, which is why Citizen Kane reigns over other films from a position of power at the tope of the AFI list. Orson Wells was a methodical and rigorously precise director and actor. He knew what he wanted, and he was going to get exactly that out of every aspect of the film.

The Photography and lighting of Citizen Kane are quite beautiful and very formalistic. The shots are creative, unique, and loaded with symbolic significance. The way the settings are designed, shot, and lit are very important. For instance, in the scene where Susan sits on the floor doing a jigsaw puzzle beside the enormous fireplace, Kane is seated in a chair at the other end of the room. The camera uses a deep-focus so both characters can be seen, thus highlighting the immense distance between them physically and emotionally. Susan's face is well lit as she looks across at her distant, relentless husband, who is almost completely in shadow. We can feel the tension in the air and see how dark Kane has become to her. He is like a shadow, unable to touch her in any meaningful way because he does not understand her.

Citizen Kane is a fragmented narrative told by six different people. Each person has his or her own views, insights into, and feelings about Kane. No two are exactly the same, and none contain the complete picture. I love the way the story is told because at the end of your life you will leave behind a series of impressions. Some people will remember you with fond tears and others with hatred. It's impossible to really know Kane through this movie because we only see him through the eyes of others, however, that doesn't make the impressions of him false. There will never be a true and perfect picture of any one person; you can only hope to leave behind a few good impressions, perhaps even great ones. Citizen Kane is the story of a man who affected many people, and thus it is told most effectively through the eyes of those people.

The writing in Citizen Kane was wonderful. The dialogue was intelligent, funny, charming, and emotional. All of the characters were given good, solid lines, which they pulled off expertly. One of my favorite lines appeared in the newsreel at the beginning, stating, “Few private lives were more public.” This line epitomizes life in the spotlight. Another occurred when Kane is speaking to Mr. Thatcher about the losses the paper has accumulated, “At the rate of one million dollars a year I’ll have to close this place in…sixty years.” Kane is obviously completely aware of how much he is worth, and his disdain for Thatcher’s way of doing things is evident. Mr. Bernstein’s idea about the nature of Rosebud reveals a lot about Kane. He says, “This Rosebud you’re asking about, maybe it was something he lost.” Throughout the film it's repeated that Kane was a man who lost everything, and this line is, I think, the closest anyone gets to guessing what Rosebud is. Leland also gives great insight into Kane’s being when he says, “That’s really all he wanted out of life, love…but he never had any to give.” Charles Kane is an endlessly fascinating character, and the different renditions of him could provide hours of analytical pleasure.

The mystery of Rosebud, the question that drives the movie to its end, is one of great importance, and one that many people have discussed. Like the characters say, one word can not define a man’s life, however, I think Rosebud is an important clue to the mystery that was Charles Kane. Rosebud is a sled, the sled that Kane used as a child. We see him holding it at the beginning of the movie, and later on, when he moves in with the banker, he receives another sled. The banker smiles down at him, as Kane looks at the new sled with a disappointed expression. I think Rosebud was the only thing Kane ever really loved.

When I was a child I had a stuffed cat named Purring Kitty. She was white, fluffy, and when you shook her she made a purring noise. I loved that toy. I loved it with the pure and simple love of a child. It’s strange, but I think in many ways the love I had for that toy is an example of the greatest kind of love. I didn’t expect anything from the toy. Purring kitty couldn't give me anything in return, it couldn't love me back. Everything I got out of that toy was what I poured into it. It was a love created by giving. In Citizen Kane when Susan leaves, she tells Kane he never really loved her, but yet he demanded to be loved. As I quoted above, Bernstein states Kane had no love to give. After Susan leaves, Kane rips apart her room, picks up the snow globe, and whispers “Rosebud.” Rosebud was the only thing he loved unconditionally. Like my stuffed toy cat, Kane’s sled was the thing he lavished his childlike love on. That sled represented what was good, pure, and true about his childhood.

In an episode of the TV series Scrubs a pair of doctors sit with a dying man, who has no family or friends. They discuss what they think dying is like, and at the end of the show they come to the conclusion that perhaps the only thing you can really wish for at death is to go out while thinking of one good memory. I think Rosebud is Kane’s one good memory. He had a life spent in pursuit of huge dreams. He lost everything, but he still had the memory of Rosebud. The proof that, at least, at one point in time, he had loved without expecting anything in return. Perhaps he was trying all along to regain that kind of love. When Susan accuses him of never loving anything, he can only respond with the word Rosebud. That silly, childhood toy is the only evidence he has that he knew how to love with the beautiful love of a child.

Citizen Kane is a wonderful movie. I love films with excellent storytelling and this was one of the best I’ve ever seen. I think it deserves its place of honor at the top of the AFI list because it is a mastery of the art of film. Orson Wells may have never given us another masterpiece, but, after Citizen Kane, I don’t think he needed to.