Citizen Kane (5/5)

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2006)

"Citizen Kane" has often been called the greatest film in cinematic history, and with good reason: it is a stroke of genius on the part of Orson Welles. He was only 25 when he directed this film, and yet he pioneered some of the most amazing cinematography and production techniques of his day or any other. At a first glance, "Kane" is a rather simple story: a young boy, Charles Foster Kane (played wonderfully by Orson Welles) inherits a large fortune and winds up dying alone and unhappy--his last words being the infamous "rosebud." Although it seems like a rather cut and dry endeavor, it is so much more than that, mainly because the film is done in flashbacks.
We begin with Kane's death and then move backwards and forwards through his life, in an attempt to find out what "rosebud" means. This is brilliant editing on Welles part; he takes a simple story and creates a complex mesh. Through these many flashbacks we slowly but surely begin to learn of Kane and those around him, and this creates quite the portrait. Welles almost always shoots Kane and other strong characters from a low angle, making them appear lager than life--this especially aids in the character development of Kane. Before this film, using camera angles in such a way was scarcely heard of, but here we see a new technique:Welles shows us that angles can do more than just make a movie look"pretty."
Another fascinating technique Welles employs for character development is set design. Whenever Kane is present, it seems that the ceilings are lower, for examples one should look at Kane's publishing house, and some of the rooms in his mansion. This further demonstrates Kane's massive size and power, and at the same time higher ceilings are used when more inferior characters are used. For example, a newspaper reporter interested in solving the mystery of rosebud, is first shown in a great hall looking at some old records and memoirs belonging to Kane's old guardian, Mr. Thatcher. Because of this we recognize that this reporter is not important, but rather only secondary. Also, Kane's second wife is often sitting in the largest rooms the Kane mansion, which makes her look rather small.
However, the best example of how Welles uses set pieces to enforce Kane's power is when he is running for governor. Here, Kane makes a speech to a very large crowd, and behind him is a mammoth picture of himself. Of course, what is also amazing about this scene is that Welles discovers a new technique called deep focus: he is able to simultaneously keep the large picture and Kane in focus, giving the illusion of depth. After this speech Kane is all set to win the governor's race, but through a twist of some dirty politics, he looses, and soon after, his first wife leaves him. Of course, to anyone paying attention this comes as no surprise--we know there has been distance between Kane and his wife for quite some time. However, we do not receive this information through dialog but rather through Welles brilliance use of subtlety. Welles shows us several scenes of the couple sitting together and having breakfast. Each breakfast encounter comes and goes with great speed leading into a dissolve which then takes us to another breakfast meal. We see the couple slightly bickering, but the way Welles shoots the scene it looks as though they are still eating breakfast right next to each other, which does not usually indicate tension. However, the last frame of this breakfast montage shows a wide shot of the couple, and we see them sitting at a much bigger table then they were first sitting at, and they are also sitting directly opposed to each other. This part of the film tells us a wealth of information, and all because of a set piece (a table), the clever use of editing, and the camera placement. No other film maker before or since this movie has used these technical aspects to flesh out so many details, not only about the characters, but about the story.
The amazing thing about Welles is how much information he is able to convey using subtlety and some simple yet poignant dialogs. Welles does not hit the viewer in the face with his film like so many movies in this day and age (i.e. anything done by Michael Bay), but instead he opts for letting the audience come to their own conclusions. And when I had mulled over this film, the conclusion I came to was rather depressing: Charles Foster Kane had all the money and power in the world but this could not buy him love, and like most of us, he never comes to realize that simple fact, which in the end left him bitter and lonely. Thinking about all of this was rather heart wrenching, but what really drove it home was when I came to discover the meaning of "rosebud": it was one of Kane's childhood toys. That to me is most upsetting of all: the only time Kane was ever truly happy was when he was a child--when he was free from his wealth.
Kane could have said or thought of anything in the world on his deathbed, but instead he chose to reflect on his short-lived childhood. Now if that doesn't get you misty eyed, not much else will. I recommend "Citizen Kane" to any mature person looking for a deep and intricate film, in which there is much more than there first appears. However, it is probably wise to watch the movie twice, in order to discover all the little and large things Orson Welles so masterfully paints on his canvas of celluloid. All and all I give "Citizen Kane": 5 out of 5 stars.
Copyright 2006 Imaginist