Citizen Kane is a 1941 film directed by Orson Welles. It is a great movie that has stood the test of time and is arguably and often referred to as the single best motion picture ever made. Given the praise this film has seen I had extremely high expectations while watching it and for the most part I was satisfied. I thought everything about the film was brilliant and although I do feel it is deserving of its acclamation, such constant exposure of hype and praise create standards at a height that is virtually unreachable—even it is ‘the best’ film of all time.
One of the amazing aspects of the film is the storyline—one that is simple, yet contains amazing depth and uncertainty surrounding Kane. The film is based on discovering the meaning of the final utterance (‘Rose Bud’) following the death of the publishing tycoon (Kane). The film ultimately deals with the concept that ‘ money can’t buy happiness.’ Seen through the flashback of Kane’s life he has developed into one of the richest and most powerful men in America. It appears that as he gradually assumes more and more power he beings to lose more and more of his soul. He ends up dying in a palace that he built where he is completely isolated and disconnected from the world. Kane’s money and power did not bring him happiness and we discover that he was most happy in the very beginning of the movie as a child.
All the aspects of this film are spectacular; the one I would like to focus on is the mise en scene and different lighting/camera movements the film uses. The ways in which the visual materials are staged are important in the film. In one of the early scenes a reporter attempts to interview Susan Alexander following Kane’s death. The sequence begins in a torrential rainstorm. This storm is accompanied by loud sounds of thunder as the camera pans around the roof of the building. The camera cranes up through the rain, after it plunges through a garnish neon sign, which reads ‘El Rancho.’ It finally sweeps down through the roof where Susan is hunched at a table in a drunken stupor. All of these obstacles and different features help add to the devastating effect by the news of Kane’s death. Later in the film, scenes depicting Kane as an older, lonely man feature long shots in which the camera is far away. One particular scene that comes to mind is a shot it Xanadu where Kane is seen talking to his wife in an extremely large room. The echoes and vast empty space between him and his wife symbolize the remote and inaccessible nature, which Kane has developed. In many respects the film is structured like a mystery story. The movie begins showing the fence surrounding Kane’s palace with a sign that reads ‘No trespassing’. The film ends with the exact same scene –a brilliant feature of the film. Citizen Kane was truly a cinematic masterpiece in every sense of the word.
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