Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time, created by
the world-famous Orson Welles. It’s a story about Charles Foster Kane’s rise
and fall from power, respect, and grace. It’s a story about his life, told
through the people he has encountered, while the mystery concerning his last
word, ‘Rosebud’ is trying to be discovered by the reporter Jerry Thompson. The
opening sequence instantly grabs one’s attention through the clever use of
transition. At first, you see a gate with the sign ‘NO TRESSPASSING’ on it
before seeing this humongous castle on top of a cliff, making one feel a sense
of foreboding and making one believe that Kane is a larger-than-life figure.
But then you see Kane, an old man on his deathbed, whisper out a seemingly
random word, before dropping a snow globe. Making people wonder two questions:
Just who was Kane? And what does ‘Rosebud’ mean to him?
Later on in the movie, we see Kane’s life through a series
of flashbacks. Each one supporting Kane’s larger-than-life figure through
camera work. One scene included the gradual degradation of his relationship
with his first wife, Emily Monroe. At first it appears to be a stable
relationship, with both Kane and Emily talking to one another and even acting
like lovers. But slowly, Kane talks less and less, and there is mentions from
Emily that he spends more time at his job than he does with her. And this
continues before both are just sitting at the dinner table quietly, not even
speaking a word to one another. This whole scene shows how Kane slowly becomes
withdrawn from someone if he believes that he has gotten all of their ‘love’,
instead moving onto the next person or thing that has caught his interest.
The main revelation in the movie comes near the end. That
‘Rosebud’ is really just his old sled that Kane played with in his childhood,
the day when he was taken from his home by the bank. It shows that despite his
larger-than-life persona, he really wants to go back to a simpler time. When
his home and his parents were his entire world, and where he did not need
anything else. The time where all he needed was the happiness he got from his
parents or the toys he already owned, rather than what he possessed or got in
his adult life. Orson Wells even hinted throughout the movie that all Kane wanted
was to be loved, but on his own terms. And back during his childhood, ‘his
terms’ were just to be acknowledged and to be carefree. If anything, this
revelation makes the movie even more interesting, because we never expected
this side of Kane through Rosebud. And even though we want to know more, we
never will and it just adds more mystery to who Charles Foster Kane really was.
This film has definitely opened my eyes to how great movies
can really become. The mystery of the main character and his life, while slowly
revealed throughout the movie, is never truly revealed and left to our
imagination. We see how a man’s ambition and a desire to be loved make him fall
from grace. It was said “Many modern films demand that we marvel at their
special effects. It is a mark of the brilliance of Citizen Kane that through
the film is crammed with optical effects we are rarely even aware of them”.
Indeed, while many movies shove the special effects down out throats, Citizen
Kane amazes us in a much more simpler manner. Through the change of a camera’s
position, we can see Kane for the giant he was figuratively and literally and
through shadows, mystery and a sense of foreboding is given to the viewers.
Even through mirrors, we see the inner conflict Kane has with himself near the
end.
