The missing piece

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2015)

Who is Charles Foster Kane? Is he a Communist? A Fascist? An American? The "No Trespassing" sign that we see at the beginning of the movie tries to warn us. Yes, throughout the movie we will get different narrations which describe Mr. Kane; but will we go over the fence and will we really understand who Mr. Kane is? The unseen reporter (Mr.Thompson, shot in darkness) seeks the last great news: Rosebud! Is Rosebud the missing piece? Will it explain everything? Mr. Kane, the great man, by pronouncing this word just before dying returns to his childhood, the childhood stolen by a banker. Charles Foster Kane comes back to a piece of wood that meant the only real moments of happiness in his life. "If the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough" tells us Welles/Kane; and the news is big but the unseen reporter cannot solve the riddle. At the end of the movie the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle seems to be Mr. Kane himself; we get his story from several (unreliable) narrators but we don't feel to have trespass the Kane's barrier. Orson Welles (director, producer and main actor) delivers a masterpiece through an extensive use of dissolves, deep focuses and flashbacks. Music and sounds give rhythm to the film and Welles' outstanding acting completes the picture (by the way, Di Caprio's best performances certainly took a lot from Mr. Kane). Citizen Kane remains up-to-date after more than 70 years and will be immortal; it is strongly recommend watching it more than once to appreciate all the techniques used by Orson Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland.