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Citizen Kane Having success the first time around is very uncommon. Orson Welles's first feature film richly realizes the full potential of excellent craftsmanship. Citizen Kane is almost indisputably the greatest achievement in the history of filming. In 1941, this film was considered by many as the best film ever made. This film is about the enormous conflict between two twentieth-century icons, publisher William Randolph Hearst and the prodigy of his time, Orson Welles. The rather overwhelming beginning of an opening sequence is still as electrifying as any in the history of movies. That tarnished sign on a forbidding black wire fence is the first thing we see in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane is a movie about perception and projection. Indeed, with the complex theme the whole movie seems to be placed in a kind of psychological trauma for the viewers. Citizen Kane is a portrait of a public and private figure that remains tantalizingly unfinished. Excellent acting was revealed for the first time as these new roles played out. Orson Welles was a director ahead of his time and his portrayal of Kane shows his acting ability. This film is one of the first films to rely heavily on style and visuals, Citizen Kane uses camera, lighting, and set techniques to show Kane's rise and fall from power. The movie as a whole -- though as artistically satisfying as a picture can get -- also leaves us with certain unexplicated pieces of Kane's life that only we, as viewers of Citizen Kane, can put together for ourselves. There's no doubt that Citizen Kane is a great movie. It is a pioneering film that forever changed film making. Its plot is one of the most creative and original in all of movie history. Citizen Kane is a brilliantly made film. I can't really take the full impact of it because it was made in 1941, and all the film techniques Welle's used, are used frequently today. Nowadays, a film has to be emotionally involving and have an original plot to get recognition. But back in the 40s, no one had ever seen some of them before, and so it was new and original. Conversely, the film features rapid montage sequences permitting sudden ellipses of time and space for the first time. This was a special technique that Orson Well used time progressing. Opening and concluding with the famous NO TRESPASSING sign outside of his palace, Xanadu, the film depicts newspaper giant Charles Foster Kane's economic and spiritual rise and his eventual ruin. The film opens with a long shot of Xanadu - the private estate of one of the world's richest men. In the middle of the estate is a castle. We see, inside the castle, a dying man examining a winter scene within a crystal ball. As he drops it, it smashes, and one word is heard - "Rosebud". What follows are pieces of newsreel like footage detailing how Kane amassed his fortune, and turning around full circle at the end. Rosebud becomes the elusive focal point for a newsreel reporter's investigation into the life and times of Citizen Kane, an exploration which provides the plot framework for the movie. The viewer first watches as Kane speaks his dying word -- "Rosebud" -- and then follows newsreel journalist Thompson who interviews Kane's closest associates, hoping to find the meaning of "Rosebud", and perhaps Kane's life. The structure of "Citizen Kane" is circular, adding more depth every time it passes over the life. The movie opens with newsreel obituary footage that briefs us on the life and times of Charles Foster Kane. They provide a map of Kane's trajectory, and it will keep us oriented as the screenplay skips around in time, piecing together the memories of those who knew him. Curious about Kane's dying word, "rosebud," the newsreel editor assigns Thompson, a reporter, to find out what it meant. He triggers every flashback, yet his face is never seen. He questions Kane's alcoholic mistress, his ailing old friend, his rich associate and the other witnesses, while the movie loops through time.
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