Hollywood or Bust

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2000)

Citizen Kane is the film forever trotted out by America cineastes who want to prove that American films can hold their own against any other. Rubbish. Citizen Kane, in fact, elaborates the entire problem of American film - it's refusal to admit that it can ever really capture the whole of a man's life, even the meaning of that life. European films, Japanese films, and films from as far away as Argentina and India have been illuminating the depths of human souls for as long as films have been made. Hollywood would rather create special effects. They're a bit more expensive, but they don't require a whole lot of creativity and insight. As a superficial examination of the impossibility of illuminating the true character of a man, Citizen Kane is a masterpiece. But it is also a troubling forecast of the depthlessness of American film in general.