Citizen Kane (1941)

Citizen Kane (1941)

starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten

co-written, directed, and produced by Orson Welles

119 minutes

Charles Foster Kane, newspaper magnate, has just died. A reporter tries to decipher the meaning of his last words, Rose Bud. The reporter interviews a number of people who knew Kane. They tell him about what they remember of Kane but none of them can shed any light as to the meaning is of Kane's final words.

Thoughts

I first saw this movie in the 1980s. I think this might be the first time I have watched it since then. I recall being impressed by it then. My first reaction to this viewing was that I didn't I feel quite as warmly towards it now. I think it was the reveal at the end that impressed me when I was in my teens. I didn't recall much else about it prior to this viewing other than that and how he treated his second wife.

Part of the reason I chose to watch this movie now was that it was covered by three podcasts that I listen to regularly within the past six months: There's Sometimes a Buggy, In Our Time, and Bald Move. 

I found this movie to be a strangely compelling watch. It kept my attention. I wanted to see what came next. I kept hoping for more than what I got. It has structure but it seems lacking in the payoff department. My first reaction to the ending is that, despite the reveal, it doesn't leave me feeling satisfied.

My second reaction to this viewing of Citizen Kane is the thought or theory that Kane is a man who gets transported from the life he knew, the world he understood growing up into a very different world. His last words make it clear that there was something he wanted to get back to in the world from which he was pulled. He spends his life trying to get back to the world of his youth or some semblance of it.

Kane cannot accept that he is where he is. He wants to return but he cannot. He is forever unsatisfied for this reason. His indomitable will makes him feel as though he can or should be able to bridge that gap between the worlds but the reality of his situation is that he cannot. He can only bridge that gap by using his imagination but I don't think that would be enough for Kane.

Kane has fond memories of his childhood but was it all that he remember it to be? It probably was not and there is some indication that it was not. His father says something that makes it sound like he didn't have a problem using his hands to bring his son into line when he felt he was misbehaving.

Did Kane really want to return to his youth or the happiness he recalls from his youth? Did he just want the sled? Would that have been enough for him? I don't know but I do wonder.