Allegedly the greatest movie of all time, Citizen Kane remains impactful despite its prominence in satirical popular culture. The film has a half dozen leading characters, but the plot is heavily focused on Kane himself, the tragic man who has everything but feels like he is missing something and is doomed to die unfulfilled.
The story unfolds after the death of the titular character. A newsreel is being made to help the public understand the odd tycoon’s life and the meaning of his final words. One investigator is sent to interview the people closest to the man, and it is through these conversations that Kane’s life story is told.
The reporter interviews his college friend Jedediah, his business partner Bernstein, and reads the memoires of Thatcher, Kane’s first trust fund manager. Many stories are recounted, and the character of the man is further understood, but the investigator Thompson never finds the truth behind Kane’s final words.
Charles Foster Kane is played by the famous Orson Welles. Welles also directed the film, and it is hard to ignore the dominance of his character. I was personally mesmerized by the young Welles, having recently seen the old Welles in a series of out-takes from his late-life commercial acting in which he is noticeably drunk. Orson Welles is a strange cross-generational influencer much like Kane himself. He was famously involved with the War of the Worlds radio broadcast which demonstrated the power of mass media. Kane gets involved in the newspaper business and reinvigorates the medium with his ideas. Kane winds up dead and alone in a giant mansion. Welles has to sell fish sticks to pay rent.
I have trouble seeing Kane or Welles as a tragic figure. Perhaps Kane was sad and nostalgic at the end, but he did lead a full life. It was amusing to think a political career might be completely ended when a love affair was exposed. Also, maybe Kane’s second wife should have become a Jazz or Folk singer instead of opera. I think the modern lesson of this movie is that Kane shouldn’t have given up so easily. Maybe his problem wasn’t a lack of love in his upbringing, but rather a core sense of shame over having not earned his wealth. He reinvents the newspaper business and amasses great wealth, but maybe it was all motivated by a need to justify his fortune. I should hope that nowadays a Kane-type figure would invest in some life-coaches and therapists that could offer some genuine perspective.
In order to appreciate the film, you have to re-adjust your perspective and try to see it as someone in the ‘40s might. From a technical standpoint, the brilliance is undeniable. This is an age when most movies looked as if they were stage plays. Citizen Kane has deliberately meaningful foreground and background elements with thoughtful lighting choices and clever scene changes. Sound effects are well arranged. If the viewer is familiar with bad audio and video effects, Citizen Kane stands as a profound success.
Having not seen this movie until now, I cannot help but be consumed by all the references and jokes made about Citizen Kane. I would wager that over half of the scenes have been parodied directly on The Simpsons. Combine this with the notion that it is the “greatest movie of all time”, it is difficult to take the film at face value without over-analyzing every moment. It stands as a historical curiosity for me. It is certainly interesting enough to recommend today, but only as a museum artifact.