Citizen Kane: Collin Hite

English 214-88

Blog Post 2: Citizen Kane

                In this 1941 American drama film, Orson Welles stars and directors this Academy award winner. This film is considered by filmmakers and fans to be one of the greatest films that have ever been created. This film was voted the greatest film of all time in five consecutive polls of critics. This film is praised for its use of innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. The iconic last words of Charles Kane give for an exhaustive search to find out what was actually meant when he utters, “Rosebud…” with his dying breathe.

THE PLOT

                The film is about Charles Kane, a wealthy media proprietor, and the examination of why, with his dying breathe, he says the word “Rosebud”. The film is comprised of many flashbacks on Kane’s childhood, adolescence, early career as a journalist, his multiple marriages and his death scene. Jerry Thompson, a newsreel reporter, goes around asking people that were close to Kane about his life and why his final word was rosebud. Since Kane wasn’t the friendliest of people, Mr. Thompson had a little bit of trouble trying to find his answer but in the end he finds out that rosebud was the name of a sled from Kane’s childhood and this sled mark the only time in his life that he was truly happy.

THE CAST

                The cast was comprised of Orson Welles, the man who made history with this film by playing the role of Charles Kane. In the final credits, the filmmaker informs us that the cast that was used were a bunch of new actors and actresses.

MY REACTION

                My reaction to this film was that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Going into it I thought to myself,” oh boy another black and white film that’s going to put me to sleep,” but as the movie was going on it kept me interested by the way that they would cut to certain scenes during the flashbacks. I liked the way that the filmmaker, from the get go, makes you want to know what the meaning behind the rosebud was. The transition and editing from scene to scene, flashback back to real life was done very well. I also liked the way that even know Jerry Thompson was one of the main people in the movie, his character didn’t overwhelm Charles Kane’s importance in the film, he kind of stuck to the shadows per say.

                Another thing that I liked about the film was the use of lighting. In our textbook, Giannetti showed me that the lighting in flashbacks of when Kane was a child or in his early years as a publisher, the lighting was brighter and made everything feel more hopeful. Whereas, towards the end of the film, Kane becomes the cynical old man and because of this, the lighting becomes darker, giving the feeling of depression.

Work Cited

Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2008.