Citizen Kane

This film includes reporters all attempting to discover the meaning of Kane’s last word, “rosebud”. The film is made up of a number of flash backs and memories of peoples experiences with Kane himself as the reporters dig deep to try and discover what “rosebud” really means.  In this film we uncover that Kane’s life has been made up of two marriages which have both disintegrated terribly, one in which was destroyed by his own slight obsession with work and the newspaper. We also see that when he was at his happiness he was only young and yet even then was a terrible time considering his mother sold him.

I have an incredibly large like for the micro features which have been used in this film, I think the standard of the micro features are incredible for the time this film was made in 1941. This film was absolutely ground breaking and it took a massive role in changing the history of film. I think the micro features were absolutely outstanding compared to the amount of equipment we have nowadays to make editing effects. There are a number of edits done to make the film stand out for its time for example; throughout the film we see a number of scenes were it fades in and out between clips. Throughout this film we notice plenty of montage editing for instance at the beginning we see many quick shots such as the no trespassing sign, the big black ‘K’ at the top of the gates in front of the creepy massive house, the misty lake and even the lonely old bench at the bottom of the hill that goes up to the massive house. We also see montage editing in the film which is used to show Kane’s first marriage slowly disintegrating. There are plenty of quick cuts which involve Kane and his wife at the time, Emily, at first we see them very close and in love with Kane walking in giving her a kiss then going on to call her beautiful. Emily mention something about Kane and the newspaper but they seem to bypass it and dismiss the subject with Kane going on to mention how he ‘absolutely adores’ her. We then see a couple of cuts which include them gradually being more and more vicious with each other and short tempered, Kane no longer dismisses the subject of him and the newspaper he just comes straight back with a tempered answer. We also see that Emily is getting more and more fed up with Kane and his newspaper and by making this all into a well put together  montage it represents their marriage falling apart very well. The music also starts all happy, sweet and peaceful but it gradually turns into deep, dark music as they grow apart, the music then jumps back to music which is a little bit more peaceful but this is only when they are completely not talking at all. Between the shots we see the camera spinning around and I find this a great way of slotting them all together I also think this shows their patience with each other winding out of control.

When I first saw the film I wasn’t a fan, I thought it was very boring and it was confusing and hard to get in to but after I had watched the film and thought about the impressive editing skills which were used and also thought deeply into the skill it must’ve had to make this film in the 1941 my mind had changed and I was quickly a fan of it. After reading back my notes and watching certain scenes again on the internet I was quick to get the hang of what this film was about and I easily read more into the film and became engrossed. I was really fond of the beginning of the film were we see the news reel and we see and over view of Kane’s life, the fact it is at the very beginning of the film hints what the film is going to be about and also the fact it is in a new reel shows that he was a rich, powerful, well known man. It also gives us an insight of his life by telling us his whole story and it lets the viewer understand more things about this certain main character. Another thing I was really fond of was the scene where we see Kane’s mother sell him, we see Kane’s mother and father in discussion talking and we have a clear view of him playing happily outside, I really like the way this is shot and the fact Kane is clearly outside in the window having a marvellous time in the snow. The reason why I really like this is because we are soon to find out how his last words were “rosebud” which related back to his childhood and is written on his sledge, the whole film is us trying to discover what the words really mean, to me Kane’s last words were said because that was his happiest time and back to my point it is shown clearly here at the beginning of the film so basically the film was created for us to wonder what the words meant when in reality they were placed in front of us in the first place.

Some other things I easily picked up on about the film which makes me like the film were things such as at the beginning we see a big house with only just one window with a light on, the place has tons of windows and the fact it has only one light on signifies he is on his own and he is actually a lonely guy. I like how we can find this out from the start of the film and how it hints his personality.

I do in fact have dislike to this film; my dislike would probably be how hard it is to get in to and how confusing it seems to be at the end. I also disliked the fact I only figured my like for it after thinking about it and realising the genius that Orson Welles was as a twenty five year old.

The story was told by a number of characters, it was never once told by Kane himself as the film was looking back on his life and trying to discover why his last words were “rosebud”, it was told by Thatcher’s memoirs, Jebadire, Susan and also the butler. I really like how this was put together.

From the film we understand that everyone saw him as a big famous man, he was also shown as a man who has plenty of female attention when we see him dancing with a bunch of ladies in one scene. But in my opinion the real Kane is actually a guy who needs love but is lost on how to give it in return and I think this comes from him getting sold as a child. I think this because during the end of the film when he is with Susan because we see him give her everything, a massive house and a beautiful lifestyle and he thinks that is him showing her love when in fact Susan feels no love at all and is feeling lonely, we see a sense of this in the scene were Susan is doing a puzzle and Kane comes down to have a talk with her.  Both Kane’s marriages fail and in my opinion this is because he doesn’t know how to show true love, he only knows the love and happiness he had as a child but that soon got taken away.