Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is not quite like any movie I’ve watched before. Not because it was in black and white, but it was trying to understand a man, that in my opinion made no sense at all. From letting his work to get in the way of love life, to thinking that women he loved, wanted to be something she was not; a singer. Charles Foster Kane is someone who can be misunderstood but never truly understood in my opinion 

The film starts with Mr. Kane holding a snow globe, and faintly saying the words “Rose bud,” as he perishes. Charles Foster Kane is from Colorado, a state known for its snow, explaining his longing for home with having a snow globe. As we go through the movie the lighting is used in a way that makes only the protagonist and the characters important to the protagonist, visually stand out to us. Like the reporter who’s trying to decipher these last words “Rose Bud,” we never see his face because he himself does not pertain to Charles Foster Kane Directly. We go through the movie with snippets from this man’s life where he constantly loses the ones he “loves.” 

All he ever wanted was to be loved but not by one singular person; by everyone. Charles Foster Kane was given away at an early age, and immediately acquired an immense amount of wealth. While actually having all this wealth he actually always lost money. He created a grand palace and never finished. He surrounded himself with all these materialistic items like statues and the world’s largest private zoo, but never had his “Rosebud.”

When on this retreat vacation with friends and his second life, a song is sung about true love never being obtained. On the same day his life left, and from then on he was alone. The mysterious words “Rosebud” symbolize true love something Charles Foster Kane could never obtain. He lost his one friend Jed, his first and second wife, his parents, and anyone else that meant anything to him. He died alone in an unfinished palace. In my opinion that is the worst way to go. With no one at all by your side. He had once said “If I didn’t have all this money, I probably would’ve been a great man.” Money does not make the man, the way he treats and helps others does. Charles Foster Kane said he had the public’s interest, “the slum child’s” interest in heart, but that did not seem to be the case in the end. Everyone hated him, and he even lost the election. Shielding himself in his giant palace was the only escape.