The Missing Link

Rating: 10/10 (25 August 2000)

Citizen Kane is many things. It is the film cited as an example of perfect, visionary filmaking. It is the movie which has arguably changed filmmaking and film viewing more than almost any other. It is one of the few movies everyone must see to appreciate the art.
But it is not the greatest film of all time. It is not the best. It is not the most loved
When asked what I believe is the greatest movie of all time, I simply say, "Not Citizen Kane" Why? I don't know. Personally I do not believe the greatest movie of all time has been made yet. Cinema is only a hundred years old and it, hopefully, has a long life ahead of it.
We all know Citizen Kane. Even the unfortunate few who have not seen it know about it. I'm not going to bore anyone with the details of what makes this movie so great. In one sentance, however, it changed how filmmakers view filmmaking. It said that there were different ways to tell a story, to shoot a story. It bridged the films before it with the films made after it. Almost every movie that came after Kane have been influenced, directly or indirectly by it. It is also an example of a filmmaker, Orson Welles, having complete control over a film long before the rise of the independents. As a first time driector this was rare. And for Welles it never happened again in Hollywood.
Kane is the missing link that ties the young, fledgling art of filmmaking to its more grown up version. It made sure that everyone knew that film, cinema, movies, was an art form, and not just some piece of whimsy.
But there is a missing link in Citizen Kane as well. There is something lacking in the movie, something that just isn't there. It's got the drama, but it doesn't have.... .....heart? a soul? compassion?
I don't think it is fair to say it doesn't have any of these. These do not make a movie good or bad. I think, instead the missing link in Citizen Kane is empathy. It is not something that Welles forgot to put in the movie, but something he intenionally removed. It is a connection between the audience and the film, in which by the end of the movie we feel closely related to the main character. But Charles Foster Kane is an ellusive, mysterious man. We can only see his life through the eyes of other people, none of whom understand him. Because of this, Kane is crafted as an enigma, a character with more questions about him than answers.
Welles obviously wanted this to be the case. But that does not allow us, the audience, to really relate to him. We look at him under a microscope in a lab. Citizen Kane is a scientific experiment. It's a very good one, but still just an experiment.
If you look at other Hollywood movies of the time, Wizard of Oz, Casablanca or It's a Wonderful Life, three of the most beloved movies ever, it is easy to make a distinction between them and Citizen Kane. All three were put together with less finesse or confidence then Citizen Kane, yet all three are cherished in a completely different way. If any of these movies are on TV, people seem to always switch the channel over. I don't know many who would watch Citizen Kane any old day of the week.
Kane is an academic movie in many ways. Perhaps a bit too sterile, too aloof to be really loved. Many would call it the best movie ever, but not necessarily their favorite film. This is not bad, just a fact. I believe that Welles wanted Kane to be just a bit aloof, maybe not loved, but well respected, viewed more as a triumph of aesthetic and technical perfection then as a sentimental classic.