Orson - you the man!

Rating: Null/10 (25 October 1999)

OK - I have not lived. I am now 22 years old, and yesterday I watched Citizen Kane for the first time. My reward for the £2.50 video rental price? A lesson in film-making excellence.
Orson Welles is considered by many to have been an outstanding figure in Cinema History. I can't disagree.
From the beginning, a dark, brooding mood contradicts the beauty of the snow-scene and the majesty of Xanadu. From then on, the direction never fails to be anything less than clever. Kane's darker side is seen more than once, but is depicted especially well when his shadow engulfs Susan, his wife.
And engulf is what he does. His need for acceptance and love is painfully clear, as is the realisation that he cannot give it. Shaped by an unhappy, disfunctional childhood, the way he tries to demand love is by smothering the lives of the people closest to him. He wants the love of 'the people' too, but succeeds only in generating as much hatred as he does admiration. And is it admiration, or pity?
In the trailer to the film, Orson Welles asks the audience to judge whether Kane is a hero or a scoundrel - or both. I still can't decide. Any film that answers a question so clearly and yet leaves it totally unanswered is worth it's salt. Yet to still have a positive impact, 60 years later, on a generation content to feed on 'post-film sludge' - desensitised to Hollywood's insistence on 'spoon-feeding' - simply demands acclaim.
I wouldn't say that its my favourite film, but seeing it placed in virtually every Film Poll's Top 5 list, I now know exactly why.
Orson - you the man!