Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane

September 25 2007

Having success on ones first movie is very rare. Orson Welles was a child genius, and very passionate artist. His artistic enthusiasm was built up for years having only been in front of the camera. The passion was released in his movie Citizen Kane, one of the greatest movies of all time. Welles also wanted greatly to tell a story that was a resemblance of his own life. Having lost both his parents at a young age, and being a large part of the public eye in his teen years, Kane was very much like Welles. Citizen Cane broke the mold in 1941 and for movies to come.

There are many reasons that Citizen Kane is viewed to be one of the best movies ever. The first one is the overall pace of the movie. The montage in the beginning was something that had not been done on that scale. Also how the script circles around it keeps the audience intrigued because the story is non-linear. The second reason is the directing and cinematography. Even though most of the techniques he used are now seen in almost every movie, in 1941 it was ground breaking. The whole movie had a very distinct feel to it, and you could tell that Welles thought about every angle, shadow, and distance. The third reason is how it was (mostly) done by one man. Now-a-days there are many independent film makers that write, direct, and star in their own movie. When I first saw this movie I didn't think it was the best movie ever. After I learned more about Welles' life, and his overall role in the movie I became more passionate about the movie.

There have been many "parody's" of this movie, both in TV and film. The one that sticks in my head is The Simpson's version. Mr. Burns has a Teddy Bear named "Rosebud", and just like Kane he was torn away from it to live in a big city and inherit his wealth.. Kane's teddy bear was his sled also by the name of rosebud. Rosebud is a metaphor of Kane's lost childhood innocence. When Kane was asked what he would