"Citizen Kane" is often cited as one of the finest films ever made, and rightfully so. Orson Welles, co-scripted, starred in, and directed this psychological study of an American newspaper tycoon. His innovative expressionistic use of sound and camera techniques greatly influenced later filmmakers. Welles used such innovative techniques as deep focus (in which objects both near to and far from the camera are sharply in focus) and high and low camera angles. However the most important factor of the film is the presentation of the story.
The way that the plot is presented is very interesting. The beginning starts very quickly and abruptly. At the very beginning of the film the audience immediately encounters the end. However the body of the story - how, as a poor boy, Kane came into great wealth, how he became a newspaper publisher as a young man, how he aspired to political office, was defeated because of a personal scandal, and devoted himself to material acquisition - is slowly unfolded. Another element of the layout that adds interest is the mystery of the secret meaning behind Kane's last words: "Rosebud". The audience eventually receives an absorbing visualization of Kane's phenomenal career and personal life from Kane's boyhood guardian, two of his closest newspaper associates and his mistress.
The part that I found most interesting was definitely the beginning of the film. As the picture opens, Charles Kane lies dying in the fabulous castle he has built - the castle called Xanadu, in which he has surrounded himself with vast treasures. As death closes his eyes his heavy lips murmur one word, "Rosebud". The scenery, lighting and background music create the same mood that one would find in a thriller. The atmosphere invokes an anxious yet, at the same time, slightly frightened emotion from the audience. All these feelings then reach a climax as the snow globe crashes to the floor, giving us a view of the room through a piece of broken glass.
