Citizen Kane Film Review

Throughout Citizen Kane, a number of themes are explored by Orson Welles. What Makes a Man is the central theme; the audience was told much about Kane’s life but during the course of the film, it all comes from the perspective of someone else. This proves how difficult it is to interpret a person’s life because people might interpret it in such a way of how they know the person, and the final cry for Rosebud shows that even those who alleged to know Kane best were unaware of certain things about him; like his second wife Susan. Another theme showed was Materialism wherein Kane thinks of acquiring women, power and wealth through his publication The New York Inquirer will give him happiness but in the end, it doesn’t mean a thing because he cannot bring his wealth in death and he would much rather have Rosebud than all the wealth in the world. Unreliable Memory is also a theme showed in the film most especially when Thompson investigates the personality or being of Rosebud. As the life of Kane is delineated for the audience, it becomes clear that each narrator is an unreliable source because some are drunk and others are elderly. Regardless of the reasons, the memories of others are colored by a number of factors.

The genre used is Film Noir in which it uses black and white projection so that it accentuates the shadows and also the suspense of the film. It also involves a strong atmosphere of dread or paranoia. The use of flashback story is also a characteristic of this genre to put people in a suspense mood and to show the story in a moment that the director wants too. In addition, there is a betrayal included in this genre like when Susan, the only person who gives Kane hope, leaves him despite of everything he did for her which also give him the feeling of being alone like when Kane was separated from his mother.

The manner of presenting the plot uses stream of consciousness because it follows a chronological series of flashbacks that tells Kane’s life