Truly one of the deserved classics of all time

Rating: 10/10 (25 September 2011)

How to understand a legend, and the man within. Thats the enterprise that drives Citizen Kane, a mission of layers that begins and ends with Xanadu, and Rosebud. At first we get the newsreel account, facts and knowledge but its a mean rendition, notes that point but say little. And so the process begins of unwrapping mystery from memory, the search for Rosebud. Xanadu says as much as the final revelation though, stately pleasure dome never finished. Coleridge never finished Khubla Khan to his satisfaction, his committal to verse on an opium dream interrupted by a guest and left to inadequate completion, and here Xanadu is a symbol of Kane and his own quest for dream interrupted. Even as the film unwraps the man through memory and its branches, in the end understanding can only be limited, the man who resides ultimately within his own mind is only understandable to himself. Which is not to say that the film is oblique, on the contrary it is a fine, scalpel slicing dissection of a man, his rise and fall, his companions and works. Orson Welles gives a towering performance as the title role, from a young turk beaming with energy and arrogance, to crusader then to stubbornness, unerring commitment to himself above all things sowing his downfall. For all the character's flaws Welles brings sympathy and tragedy to the role, in bringing clarity and perfect nuance to every stage he conveys to the audience a deeper understanding than what is said by mere words or events and thusly provokes sympathy even when one would perhaps like to dismiss him. The cast around aid the journey well, the exasperation of George Coulouris as Kane's guardian and fluster of Erskine Sanford as a traditional newspaper owner usurped by new practice make for wry amusement in the early stages, Ruth Warrick handling with great subtlety the first shifts towards downfall as Kane's first wife, Dorothy Comingore (though histrionic in places) deeply affecting as his simple, honest and lovable second. And best of all Joseph Cotten as an old friend bearing the greatest insight and hardest fall. With such performances and finely judged writing its a classic tale of corruption, greed and the peril of relentless drive. But underneath it all the search for a man within a legend. And one of the greatest things the film does is not just highlight futility but cast doubt on the very search. Its in the cinematography, the use of light and shadow. In general terms the superb work of Gregg Toland gives the film an often shadowy mood suggesting depth even when the actors aren't at work, but whats really interesting is the refusal to give face to the journalist pursuing the story, only those he speaks to, only what is relevant to Kane himself. In shrouding the journalist and his masters particularly in shadow and dark a great gulf is established between the world of Kane and his contemporaries and those who seek to unfurl said world. If Kane's wives and companions are at a remove from him, the seekers after truth are removed even from them, impossibly far away from deeper insight. Which gives the film dual interest to me, the mind, how it seals itself off and the impossibility of knowledge. Perhaps Citizen Kane is not the best examination focused as it is on a fairly classical story, but its certainly one of the very most accomplished and entertaining. One of my favorites so far of the established canon of cinema, and hugely recommended.