Don't Believe the Naysayers

Rating: 10/10 (28 September 2001)

Is Citizen Kane the greatest film of all time? Who cares? The fact that it's great is qualification enough.
While I can't say I'm surprised that so many have called this movie "boring" (the success of Jerry Bruckheimer hasn't escaped me, after all), I will say that I'm disheartened. I've always found the picture to be breathtaking, even exuberant, throughout its entire 119-minute running time. The sound and dialogue have a crackling wit to them, and the visuals! What can be said of Toland's cinematography that hasn't already been stated a million times over?
No, Citizen Kane is not emotionally jarring, and we don't necessarily feel any sympathy for any of its characters. We are not meant to identify with the movie's hero, Charles Foster Kane. We're merely asked to be intrigued by him, to contemplate his situation and how he came to it.
If the revelation that comes at the end of the film is a letdown, well, it's supposed to be. Ultimately, Rosebud is no more important to Kane the man than the girl with the white parasol is to Kane's assistant, Mr. Bernstein-- the girl whom Bernstein saw on a ferry dock one day and then never forgot. Rosebud is a remembrance, perhaps a symbol of youth or a transcendence that was never achieved, that has no significance outside of Kane's own mind. The revelation of what it truly is underscores the futility of trying to fathom and define a man's motivations-- it explains nothing.
But Rosebud's function within the film is clear-- it's the key that Welles and his collaborators use to open up the world of Charles Foster Kane and then spin us through it. And what a trip it is! The structure of the narrative and the visual program play out in a surprising, almost gleeful way (although people call it "slow," I always find myself exhausted trying to keep up with what the movie throws at me). After I've watched it, I often have trouble pinpointing where exactly in the film certain scenes occur. It's almost too rich, too varied, to subtract from.
I also disagree with the notion that Citizen Kane is a "cold" movie. Several scenes emit a strong (if reserved) emotional warmth (those in which Kane first meets his mistress come to mind) while others are quite humorous (the razor sharp dialogue and the dead-on timing of the actors contribute substantially to this). And besides, not every movie is meant to give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside; not all set out to make you cry. Some simply dazzle you with the brilliance of their conception and force you to reconfigure your notions of what a movie can be.