Empty Welles

A review of “Citizen Kane” by James Harleman

Starring Orson Welles,
Directed by Orson Welles
2 hrs. 23 min.

The film begins at the end. then proceeds to explore the life of a man in a series of vignettes, through the eyes of those who knew him. while this may not sound like a groundbreaking idea today, “Citizen Kane” was the first film to use non-linear storytelling like this. With its revolutionary writing and innovative use of lighting, contrast, and camera angles, many still consider it to be the best film every made, the measuring rod by which all other films are sized up and critiqued. It made sense, then, for Mars Hill’s Film and Theology class to engage the picture to see not only why it has held such lasting impact on the film world, but also to examine its message about man’s striving and achievement.

This fictional story of “Charles Foster Kane”-a thinly-veiled biography of media mogul William Randolph Hearst-opens with the man’s last word: “Rosebud”, as he shuffles off this mortal coil at his luxurious, palatial home, a veritable kingdom of priceless treasures and a testament to greed and capitalism; the man had built an empire, and yet dies alone and unhappy. A reporter attempts to discover the significance of Kane’s last, tragic whisper. This leads him to confidential writings, old friends, and ex-wives, as he tries to get the scoop on who-or what-the mysterious “Rosebud” might be.

As Kane’s life unfolds, we see a boy taken from his parents, the mother stoic and resolute and the father ineffectual, though possibly an abusive drunk; he is raised by a guardian and inherits great wealth. Desiring to prove his own merit, he takes a small newspaper and builds it into an empire, creating a declaration of principles that makes him loved by many and hated by many more. He fights for the lower class, the working man, and becomes so obsessed with making everyone love him-with buying or earning their affection-that his own methods become compromised, his hypocrisy revealed, his wife disgusted, the public turning on him. Kane has never understood true love (the type of love that can only be seen in Christ, a covenantal love) and seeks tirelessly to earn, buy, or force others to love him. His affection and good works, despite all appearances or intentions, is compromised by his pursuit of self-love, his desire to be loved by all, to be the center of the universe, to maintain his self-image and make it the object of everyone’s attention. He achieves much, accrues much, and yet-as with all men-he loses it all. Consider this quote from scripture:

Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well– the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:2-9, 2:4-1

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