Citizen Kane: Orson Welles and His Rosebuds

When you watch a movie with appreciation, you will find many surprises, such as "Citizen Kane". In this movie, in addition to seeing Orson Welles' genius, you can also see the unique charm of old movies. The hero of the film is named Charles/Foster Kane, a man with a dogmatic charm, although he ends up dying alone. As a movie character, Wells's portrayal of Kane is very successful. There have always been two very contradictory characteristics in this man's character. He is energetic, active in thinking, very creative, and can understand any culture. Maintain a forgiving attitude. However, on the other hand, he is a very extreme person, and the roughness in his character becomes more and more obvious as he grows older. Maybe it's because the aging people have a kind of inferiority, and those rudeness and selfishness are the defense of their remaining rights. The magazine's mint, Northon, said that Kane, like a public figure of that era (or every era), was loved by some and hated by some. In fact, in Kane, what I experience is not only the characteristics of a famous man, but the social atmosphere and civilization of the entire era.

The magic of movies is that they can condense a person's life into one or two hours. In "Citizen Kane", Welles used a lot of amazing shots, almost perfectly connecting the major moments in Kane's life, and successfully engraved the image of the newspaper tycoon in the the hearts of the audience. The departure from home in childhood, the inheritance of property in youth, the establishment of a newspaper, two marriages, a political career that has ended before it began, and the final death of loneliness, etc. These major events are very cleverly connected in series. Flashbacks, interludes, and flexible perspective switching do not show the jerkyness of a young director at all. And the mystery of "rose stamen" that appeared at the beginning has been running through, becoming Kane's scar and the scar of that era.

What is a rose stamen?

As an intention throughout the whole film, the importance of the rose stamen is self-evident. Of course, it is not a physical object, but a reference. The old Kane was lying alone in bed waiting for death to come, and he said Rose Bud angrily. Immediately afterwards, white snow fluttered, as if paying homage to this great man. Then the fairyland-like landscape ball fell from his hand and shattered into pieces. You know, Kane has always been a pragmatist, whether it is emotion or behavior, Kane strives to make it meaningful, even if it is only meaningful to himself. After watching the whole movie, I found that the scenes in the landscape ball are very similar to Kane's life when he was a child. The heavy snow, the low wooden house, these are the homes in Kane's memory, and Rose Bud happens to be his childhood. Engraved text on an old sleigh. In fact, the rose stamen is a kind of memory and wish of Kane. He hopes that he can return to his childhood and return to his parents, and he also hopes that he can grow up by his parents. When he uttered those two words, Kane had actually admitted his failure. For any one person, no one can bear witness to his own death, then, such a death is humble.

Little Kane was forcibly taken away from his parents when he was a child. When he was young, he had no power to resist except resentment. Although he tried to fight back, the disparity of power made it difficult for him to escape the mercy of adults. Young stubbornness and resistance gradually formed his later character. In Kane's life, what he craved most, and did not receive until his death, was love. He is insecure, does not understand the normal feelings between people, and has nothing but power and money to rely on.

Movies are always the art of different opinions. Kane or his rose petals are waiting for more people to understand. As a great movie, the brilliance of "Citizen Kane" is unquestionable. Perhaps, after many years, this film can still be known to more people.

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