Citizen Kane

 

(*********)* I give it 9 broken snow globes out of 10

“Rosebud”, this one word kept me captivated the whole movie and I kept asking myself, “What does that mean”. If one is not a fan of black and white movies or of boring, yet complex and interesting, stories I suggest that one should not continue with this review. This is definitely a movie I would like to watch again.I did very much enjoy this movie and I would hope to see it again. My intention is to understand the mind of Kane in a way that would get across to someone that was confused while watching this movie.

Orson Welles stars in the 1941 classic drama Citizen Kane along with:

·Joseph Cotton as Jedediah Leland

·Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander Kane

·Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein

·Ray Collins as Jim W. Gettys

·George Coulouri as Walter Parks Thatcher

·Agnes Moorehead as Mary Kane

·Paul Stewart as Raymond

·Ruth Warrick as Emily Monroe Norton Kane

·William Alland as Jerry Thompson

·Etc.

The movie starts off with the death of Charles Foster Kane, an extremely wealthy media proprietor, as he utters his dying words “Rosebud…” and drops a snow globe he’s been holding. The newsreel reporter Jerry Thompson is sent to uncover the meaning behind Kane’s cryptic, last word. The whole movie is through the telling of various friends and associates flashbacks, going from his ex-wife Ms. Alexander to Jedediah Leland, his best friend. Kane is revealed to have been torn from his family at a young age and spend much of his adult life tearing apart the wealth and possessions of his new guardian, Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris). I won’t go any further into the story, in fear of spoiling the ending or key plot points; but, I would like to give my own opinion of this movie.

The mind of Kane is very simple in that all he wants is to regain his lost childhood. All of his actions have either been in defiance of those who removed him from his family or in the pursuit of “love on [his] own terms”. Even the statues he collects are incomplete, representing his own incomplete nature and his drive for perfection the way he wants it to be. Kane starts off as an idealistic young man with a set of principles, but quickly abandons them in the pursuit of what he thinks is right, even if others don’t approve.

I would have to recommend to anyone focused on character development or a fan of the mystery/drama genera. I know that I won’t be able to add anything new that hasn’t already been said, so I won’t try. I just wanted to understand Kane and what he was going through. By the end I sympathized withed him and hoped that my life would not be spent lost in a world that I could never find again.