An in-depth look at Citizen Kane

Rating: 10/10 (1 July 2006)

Based on the newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane takes us along a news reporter's quest to discover the mysterious meaning of "Rosebud," Charles Foster Kane's last words, by piecing together important chapters of his life in a series of interviews with the people who "knew" the man best. It may not be considered the most universally entertaining film, however Orson Welles's Citizen Kane is among the most interesting and revolutionary works of art of the film genre.
Orson Welles learned the taste of success very early in his career as an actor, writer, and director. Some of his first major successes include modern renditions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Julius Caesar with the Mercury Theatre. Soon after such box office hits along with the famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast that gained him national notoriety, Welles landed a deal with Hollywood. They were so confident in him that he was offered Carte Blanche to do what ever he wanted with no limitations. Welles seized this opportunity not to make a move for his career but to make a move for the art of film. The end result was Citizen Kane.
One of the central themes of the film is the difficulty of interpreting a life. After viewing a film biography containing bulleted achievements of Charles Foster Kane's life, its producer asks his reporters, "Who, really, was Charles Foster Kane?" implying that a man is more than the sum of his achievements, material wealth or even actions. Thus reporter Jerry Thompson, played by actor William Alland, takes on the mission to find meaning in Kane's last words. However, his daunting task leads to another obstacle and central theme to the film: the unreliability of memory. In interviewing those who had been closest to Kane, Thompson finds that he can dig no deeper than biased/blurred perceptions of Kane's actions: one storyteller, Susan Alexander Kane, played by Dorothy Comingore recounts her life with Kane, her late husband, in an alcoholic rant. Another, Jetidiah Leland, a former friend of Kane played by Joseph Cotten, doesn't complete the puzzle either in his senile recollection of his relationship with Kane. Because of this, the image of Kane's life can never quite come into focus and Thompson ultimately fails in his mission.
One of the most notorious devices of Citizen Kane is the innovative cinematographic technique. The use of new camera angles, deep focus, and strategic contrast has a subtle but profound effect on the mood, thematic direction, and overall story. The combination of camera angles in the floor and ceiling along with deep focus allowed Welles to morph size and perspective making the audience very aware or unaware of the characters' size in relationship to others and their surroundings. The fact that they had to build ceilings into sets also added an element of realism. The contrast of light and dark is used to give further emphasis of importance or meaning on specific elements of a scene. One example is the blinding white snow against the dark, sullen young Kane right before he is taken away from his home. Another is the frequent radiance of Kane emphasizing his grandeur next to the inferior reporters who are cast into shadows.
Welles had been at first reluctant to enter the film-making business because of the little respect it received from the art community. But after Citizen Kane, he had single-handedly transformed the industry and revealed the true artistic potential of film. This coupled with its multidimensional layers of innovations in technology, acting, and story structure constitutes Citizen Kane's place at the top of almost all movie critics' list of film masterpieces.