Adriel Sebastian

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Citizen Kane: The Greatest

Few movies can claim to have revolutionised the art of filmmaking. While movies of the
past have succeeded in improving how films are made, none more so than Citizen Kane (1941).
The movie, directed by Orson Welles, follows a non-linear timeline and tells the story of
news magnate Charles Foster Kane (played by Welles himself). The opening minutes were set in
his sprawling mansion Xanadu and saw 70-year-old Kane dying as he uttered his last words,
“Rosebud.” This word would become the subject of obsession for journalist Jerry Thompson,
who would go to extraordinary lengths in order to find out its meaning. Through a series of
flashbacks, told by Thompson alongside Kane’s associates (including his business partner and
first and second wives), the story of Kane was told: a destitute child who became one of the
richest and most influential men alive thanks to his newspaper business, whose hunger for power
led him to run for governor, only for him to fall from grace after his extramarital affair was
discovered spectacularly.
Kane is frequently cited as the greatest movie of all time, and for good reasons. It is the
first movie to use non-linear storytelling, something that is a staple in modern cinema (partly
thanks to Kane) but was revolutionary at the time. The cinematography, led by Gregg Toland,
featured deep focus, where the foreground, middle ground, and background of a scene remain in
focus, allowing for a greater depth of field and an overall more immersive experience. Toland
also included long tracking shots and peculiar camera angles, like the zoom-out from the snow
globe at the beginning of the movie. The movie explored topics never before seen on the big
screen, such as power, corruption, and ambition, as well as a longing for a simpler time. The last
of these was evident when it was revealed that “Rosebud” was a sled Kane used to play on as a
child, meaning that in his dying moments, he looked back at his childhood and yearned for a
more carefree and innocent time. All the money and influence he had ultimately destroyed him,
and all he wanted was to become that little boy playing on Rosebud.
The real-life story behind Kane was no less impressive. It is believed that Kane was based
on the life of William Randolph Hearst, who built a newspaper empire and pioneered tabloid
journalism with salacious and sensationalist headlines and became one of the richest and most
powerful men in America in the early 20th century. Hearst, much like Kane, had political
aspirations, served two terms in the US Congress and ran unsuccessfully for governor of New
Adriel Sebastian
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York and President, and also had numerous affairs with younger women. The Hearst Castle in
California was the inspiration for Kane’s Xanadu. Hearst hated the movie and used his immense
influence to stop its distribution, resulting in Kane only returning a modest box office
performance and was initially labelled a commercial failure. Kane also saw Welles and his
screenwriter, Herman “Mank” Mankiewicz, fought over who would be credited for writing the
script. This and the other events behind Kane became the subject of the biographical movie Mank
(2020), directed by David Fincher.

Book Review
The Style and Meaning of Citizen Kane by James Naremore is a nice addition for anyone
watching Kane, as it goes into depth about the many cinematography techniques in Kane and
talks about the metaphors and symbolism explored and depicted in the movie. It is a must-read
for anyone wanting to dive deeper into how Kane was made and the meanings behind it.