What Makes A Film A Masterpiece?

Rating: 10/10 (24 June 2007)

Is Citizen Kane a masterpiece? The results of the British Film Institute 2002 poll of major directors and critics found Kane to be rated the best film of all time, and Orson Welles the greatest director. Do the intelligentsia of film have the exclusive right to determine which film is or is not a masterpiece? Certainly not. However, the use of the term "masterpiece" is being thrown around so casually today as to render the word virtually meaningless. If you look at IMDb's user rating, you would find Citizen Kane ranked #23 and The Shawshank Redemption #2. This is a rating by us common folk, not people who have studied film or make their living from movies. Does this give rise to the contention that The Shawshank Redemption is a masterpiece also? One may argue the point, and if you read through the user comments, many, many people use the term to describe that movie. I'm sure if you read through the user comments for, say, Pulp Fiction, that ol' word "masterpiece" will be there again and again. Check out Forrest Gump. I haven't, but my money says you see that "m" word quite a few times there also. After all, it DID win six Academy Awards. If all these movies are considered masterpieces by enough people, does that make it so? I really don't know. I do have my opinion and the privilege to state it, everyone else like it or not. You may disagree with my view, but you shouldn't absorb it and react personally. A masterpiece in film is no different from any other art form. Painting, music, sculpture, literature; some works are great; others mediocre. Greatness must stand the test of time. It doesn't matter how many times you've seen that Dali, listened to Wagner, or read Shaw's play. Each time is the first time. There's a wondrous quality there which fascinates always. A sense of immortality. So, is The Shawshank Redemption a masterpiece on the same level as Citizen Kane? Not even close. Kane meets my criteria as do many others. In fact, in my opinion, Citizen Kane is not even Welles' best movie, so I must think highly of him as a filmmaker. Kubrick, Bunuel, Wilder, Ford, Fellini, Fassbinder, Lang, Ozu, Truffaut, Kurasawa, Hitchcock, Altman, maybe Goddard, maybe Herzog, look out for Tarr, Visconti, the list of great films by great filmmakers is long enough, but not so long that every GOOD film we see is a masterpiece. Let's collar that word and hold it in a safe place before it becomes completely superfluous. I'm sure Welles would approve.