Review of Citizen Kane (1941) by Faisal A — 14 Oct 2012

....Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've jumped on the bandwagon. I saw it for the first time in my first film class in 2006 (every film school is bound to show this film). I really really liked it then, but I also thought I wasn't being honest with my opinion; that is, I may have felt that my opinion was mostly manufactured by the film's stature and its place in cinema history. So I waited, and waited...and now just about 6 years later (with a few weeks apart of the anniversary of my first viewing), I get to see this film, and myself being more mature, more astute, more intelligent and more attentive, I get to realize what this film really is. It will be apart of my cinematic bible from now on. I really love the way the movie is structured like a puzzle. The atmosphere complements the mood of the characters. The themes are so radiant, especially the more Kane isolates himself from everyone else the older he gets. His childhood gave him an excuse to play with power and he eventually became a control freak, abusing his principles to get what he wants and what he thinks he deserves. For one of the most powerful businessman in the U.S.A., his image is but a facade for what he really is: a lonely, neurotic child, who created a void where his childhood was supposed to bridge his transition to his adulthood, which began building his cynicism and cunning thought process to become the man who would try to control everything he eyed.

I can't complement it enough. It is probably not my single favourite film of all time, but it is definitely up there, and I really feel like there is no way I can ever discourage people from seeing it. I do not think that this is the only film people should see from classic Hollywood cinema, and people should always keep in mind that just because it is CONSIDERED to be the greatest film of all time, it doesn't mean they should not think for themselves. (James Rolfe, of the "Angry Video Game Nerd" series, made an excellent point of how film schools continually be snobbish in the sense that they would never consider "King Kong" as a film that would be of great importance to film students outside of it's technical breakthroughs).

So, yes, well done, Mister Welles.