Aniela Schaefer Citizen Kane

If you would like to see an excellent example of how editing should be, watch Citizen Kane. It is a beautiful work of art that manages to say a lot about both the American dream and one of the most important aspects of the cinematic world. The way a film is edited can tell as much about the situation as the dialogue or the setting. It can turn a mediocre performance and make it legendary or make a boring clip captivating. In the end, all that matters is the way the heart of the movie is presented to the audience and how they view it.

The lighting, positioning, and lens tell us more about Kane than any of the characters ever could. It is through these things that we as viewers are allowed into his world and they enable us to truly grasp his emotions and opinions even though we are never told the story through his point of view; although the thing that amazed me the most was the long shots that would seem to go on and on without any cuts. At times I felt as though I was watching live theatre rather than a movie. All I kept thinking was that if someone messed up a line or wasn’t in the right place at exactly the right time then they would have to start all over again and they would lose it all. To pull off so many complicated shots and highly emotional scenes in such an expert way is mind blowing to me. It shows great skill on Welles part and the fact that he directed it all while playing the title character is even more impressive. He truly was a great a pioneer in his field.

At the same time, all of the more than impressive technological aspects don’t take away from the story. They aren’t distracting as they sometimes are in today’s cinema but rather there is a beautiful balance between the two. It is a stark presentation of the downfalls of the American dream and it makes the audience question what they are sacrificing to get the financial backing that is so key to fulfilling that ideal. Success is so greatly valued in American culture but is it worth it? It is something that Kane failed to answer and that Welles often asked himself. 

This question plus the groundbreaking cinematics have made this movie truly the greatest of all time.