Every once in a while, there’s a movie that re-shapes the
way we view art, and in the world of Hollywood cinema, there’s countless
visionary masterminds that would helm unforgettable film projects that reshaped the way we view movies.
Filmmakers like Stanly Kubrick, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron have all left
an eternal mark on filmmaking, and have turned out some of cinema’s most
legendary motion pictures. However, before any of them took the spot light,
there was a young filmmaker named Orson Wells who was one of the very first to
change the way we look at movies. His 1941 classic titled “Citizen Kane” is often regarded as one of the greatest movies of
all time, if not the greatest movie of all time. Now of course people can have
their own point of view on a film, but whether you think it’s a masterpiece or
not, one thing is certain, this was a huge game changer, and it revolutionized
the world of movie making in a way that phew other movies did before.
Here’s the
premise in a nutshell, Charles Foster Kane was one of the wealthiest and most
powerful newspaper tycoons of the time, but be was also a man surrounded in
mystery and intrigue. Then on his death bed, his final spoken words get the
attention of a news reporter who believes that his final word might give some
insight on what kind of man Charles Kane really was. So the young news reporter
goes around interviewing different people that had an impact on Kane’s life,
and gradually we see the full story of Mr. Kane unfold from the perspective of
these various people. It’s a fascinating character study as we witness the rise
and fall of this publishing tycoon. At first he comes off like an idealistic
social service man with great ambitions, but gradually he evolves into a
ruthless miser who pursues power. Pretty soon, we see his real miserable self
that didn’t disserve the amount of praise and attention he had previously
achieved.
Orson Welles
plays Mr. Kane and he does a respectable job in the role, and I always love a
story of one man’s deterioration from point A to point B. It actually gets to a
point where Mr. Kane doesn’t even seem to know what he wants, he just does
things to prove he has power. Why spend a fortune on building a giant castle
and fill it with a huge collection of statues, because he can, and he wants
nothing more than the whole world to love and admire him for his
accomplishments. Without spoiling too much, we learn that his final spoken
words represent his biggest and deepest regret, something that was taken from
him way too soon, and he was never able to recover from it.
The story when
laid out on paper may sound very direct, and maybe even a touch average.
However, the reason this film was such a big deal wasn’t just for the story
alone, it’s was for how artistically the story was told and conveyed. Seriously,
no other film at the time had such an artistic and crafty direction. The people
who knew Kane always regarded him as someone larger than life, so when Kane is
on screen, it’s often in the style of a low angle shot, making his presence
come off as large, abusive and commanding. There’s also a heavy use of shadows,
gothic angles and a really heavy atmosphere, much like a film noir. I always
liked to believe that the heavy shadows were symbolic for the darkness on the
horizon. Case in point, there’s a scene when Mr. Kane gives a big election
speech in which he’s in the spot light, this is his shining moment, but the
audience and everyone around him are shrouded in darkness. Then in the
following scene, we see something really serious affect Kane, and change the
way we perceive him throughout the rest of the film. It’s in this scene that
it’s Kane who’s entirely in the shadows, while everyone around him is bathed in
light.
That’s the
beauty of this film, its overall look and direction could have easily been
written off as style over substance, but on the contrary, this style is part of
the dramatic story telling. Here’s another example of the film’s artistic
quality being used to tell the story and convey the drama. When Kane first
married, he and his with were very close, as emphasized through a small dinner
table that keeps them sitting very close to one another. But over the course of
many years, we see that table grow longer and longer, establishing that Kane
and his wife are drifting farther and farther apart. This is only one example,
the film really is chock full of subtle visuals that convey an important aspect
of the story. Even by today’s standards, every shot in this movie is
unbelievable to look at. I’m really glad this came out in the 40’s because I couldn’t
imagine this film conveying the same effect if it was in color. It really has
to be seen in Black and White, and the heavy shadows just add to the cob wonder
that the film has to offer.
Another innovative
technique this film conveyed was multiple narrators. Rather than have a linier
back-story from one perspective, we see how he’s perceived from the points of
view from several people, and as such the overall look and tone of the
character changes with each flashback. This movie also incorporated a fake news
real, which was unheard of at the time. Most of Kane’s story is given to us in
the begging though a long news real that chronicles his life, a trend that many
other films would attempt to replicate. Symbolism is also incorporated through jigsaw puzzles, as the news reporter is trying to piece together Kane's story, the people in Kane's life are trying to understand him, and to emphasize this, we commonly see the characters trying to piece together huge jigsaw puzzles.
I should note
that the film is loosely based on real life publishing tycoons William Randolph
Hearst, Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, who all took some offence to this
film. Hearst in particular was so taken back from this film that he refused
mention the film in any form or fashion in his newspapers. I personally don’t
think that Orson Welle’s had any animosity toured Hearst, he just wanted to
tell a captivating tail of a tycoons rise and fall in power, in fact Welles
incorporated aspects of his own life and experiences into this film. Never the
less, the film was admittedly an initial box office bomb at the time do to its
lack of marketing and newspaper headlines, despite strong critical reception.
Over the years, it has aged masterfully and gained a reputation as a land mark
achievement.
Now do I
personally think this is one of the absolute greatest movies ever made ... no,
but it’s undeniably a great movie in its own right, and is deservedly called a
classic. People may go into this movie with unreasonably high expectations and
then walk away from it saying “that’s it, I expected more”, which can happen
when a movie gets such a huge reputation. Weather you think the movie is
perfect or not, there’s no denying that this movie revolutionized the art of
filming and pioneered new techniques that many future films would draw heavy
inspiration from. It looks amazing, it’s an entertaining yet poignant character
study, and it’s still very innovative in its story telling. Take that for what
it’s worth, and if you have the time, check the movie that many regard as one
of the greatest films of all time.
I personally
give “Citizen Kane” 4 ½ stars out of
5.
