The American movie goers have voted it to be the greatest movie ever made. It has been called a masterpiece, an example of exquisite movie craftsman ship and the greatest triumph of Orson Welles. I’m talking about Citizen Kane.
Charles Foster Kane is a newspaper baron, a publishing tycoon who wins and loses friends as he progresses in life. He is an audacious entrepreneur and conquers all that he sets his sights on. As he makes his advances in professional life, one magnificent triumph following another, he becomes more and more self possessed.
His friend remarks “If there was anybody he loved in the world, it was himself. “
This is Kane’s tragedy. His wife leaves him as his amorous courting of an opera singer is made public by a rival candidate. He loses the race for governor. The opera singer he marries is vexed of being a bird imprisoned in Mr. Kane’s wonderful palace Xanadu.
Deserted by all, unloved and uncared for, Charles Kane dies. As he dies he utters the word ‘Rose Bud ‘. A young reporter’s attempt to find out what this word means makes up the movie. As he meets the people related to Kane, the story of Citizen Kane starts unfolding.
Orson Welles plays citizen Kane with a sort of rhetorical grandeur and the aura of a tragic hero. He excels in portraying Kane’s grandioseness and pompousness. The transformation from a bubbly young man to a brooding patriarch is brought out in an astonishing manner.
What does Rose bud mean? The movie doesn’t provide any answers. What the film leaves unsaid, unpronounced is what its greatness is all about. Did Charles Kane find happiness? Did he live a life of fulfilment? Is rose bud a metaphor for the life Charles Kane could not have? The movie leaves us these questions to ponder upon.