Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is a film about a man, Charles Foster Kane, which recounts his life, his loves and the empire that he created for himself that gave him the title of being the quite possibly most successful man in America, maybe even in the entire world. Kane's story is told in full through a newsreel at the beginning of the film, highlighting his accomplishments that essentially led to his eventual demise. The film then goes onto to delve into Kane's life in detail, through flashbacks told in the point-of-view of the most important people in Kane's life (Thatcher, Kane's guardian growing up; Bernstein, Kane's friend and business manager; Jedediah Leland, Kane's best friend; Susan Alexander, Kane's mistress and eventual second wife; and his caretaker) to a reporter searching for the meaning of Kane's dying word, "Rosebud". The viewer is given a point-of-view that allows a deep look into the core of Charles Foster Kane, and left wondering what is the real measure of a man's life once he's dead.

Citizen Kane has been hailed as "the greatest film ever made" by many film critics and scholars. Critics have stated that "Citizen Kane is the biggest cinematic landmark since pictures first started moving" and "With its spirit of visual and narrative innovation, and Welles's precocious towering central performance, Citizen Kane almost lives up to its reputation as the best of all time" (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/citizen_kane/). I don't know if I would agree that it is the greatest movie of all time, solely because of the fact that I am not a film scholar and have only started to critically and analytically view films beginning with this class. I don't have classic Holllywood films to compare Citizen Kane to in the areas of style, narrative, composition, etc. nor do I have the critical eye to determine what "the greatest film ever made" would look like. But watching this film, I felt so connected to Charles Foster Kane and could empathize with the struggles that he endured throughout in his life. I don't think that he ever knew the real meaning of what it is to love and be loved, because his father abused him as a child which led to his mother giving him away to be raised by Thatcher. Not being raised in a healthy environment and never being taught the true meaning of life, Kane sought to gain love and success through his fotune. His idea of the American dream was to have wealth and success, and throughout the film, we see Kane trying to maintain that ideal at all costs. He didn't want what he couldn't control and he controlled everything that came into his life: the newspaper, Jedediah, both Emily and Susan, and set out to control politics by running for govenor. Kane filled his life with material possessions bought with his wealth and people that he thought he could control in order to atttain happiness and success. The narrative of the film illustrates this in quite a unique way, through the perspectives of others in his life whom he tried to control and ended up pushing away. These flasbacks, along with the newsreel at the very beginning of the film, foreshadow Kane's eventual demise in a powerful way. Kane's breakdown leading up to his death occurs right after Susan tells him that she is leaving him, and leaves Xanadu. We see Kane tear apart her room, symbolizing him breaking through the facade that he has created for himself that has led him to be incapable of love and caused him to end up alone. He walks out of the room, to all of his staff just watching him and we see a singular "K" charm hanging out the front of his suit. His name, his wealth and success are all that he has left for himself. They have defined his life and now that he is alone, he realized that this is not the life that he wanted and he is forced to come to terms with his true inner self. To him, this was no longer the American dream that he had worked so hard for. He lost two loves, his best friend and everyone else that was close to him in life because he was so incapable of loving anything other than his money and himself.

Citizen Kane displays an emotional depth that I don't think I've witnessed before in any other film. The narrative perfectly illustrates the hardships in life, the heartache of love and loss and that wealth and success mean little without knowing how to love and be loved. I was moved by the ending and the room surrounded with millions of dollars of possessions that never made Charles Foster Kane as happy as Emily and Susan once made him. I can most definitely understand why this film is considered by many to be "the greatest film ever made", and never will I forget the story of Citizen Kane.