“People will think what I want them to think!!”

Citizen Kane is well outside the statute for limitations for spoilers, but be forewarned of spoilers ahead.

I’ve become so invigorated by how much I enjoyed the movie on my second viewing, much later in life. I don’t purport to have original thoughts, as this is a tribute to how this movie made me feel. While I wouldn’t put Citizen Kane near my top favorites, I do love the story and think it’s a phenomenal achievement in the history of cinema. This film is so remarkable that I am violating my manifesto and am posting 2 clips for Citizen Kane. Much has been said about the technical wizardry (cinematography, sets, acting, makeup) on display, but I’m going to ignore it. I’m also setting aside the biting commentary on past, present, and future media moguls (or on any person of elite power). Ignoring those, this film gives me the time, space, and motivation to reflect on my own life. The moral tale about happiness and regret is what I appreciate most about Citizen Kane.

Charles Foster Kane is a villain. I won’t spend much time arguing why. 3 examples: he monopolizes the news to control how people think; he fires his friend; he slaps his wife. He is a vile man. I detest him.

He starts out as a man with a list of principles and eventually violates them all, literally ripping them to pieces late in his life. We meet him on his deathbed; “Rosebud” is his last word. In my first clip, we find out that Kane was once a happy young boy whose mother comes into money, sets him up with a trust, and sends him off to a place that will give him a better chance to be happy and rich. The boy is devastated. The mother is trying to protect him from an impoverished life with an abusive father. She seems numbed by this plan, but this is what she thinks is best for him. The father tells him, “You’ll probably be the richest man in America someday.” This is exactly what Kane tries to become.

We learn his lifestory from possibly unreliable narrators. In broad strokes, I believe they’re reliable enough. Kane was as bad as they recount, if not worse. In my second clip, we find Kane with nothing left. He is effectively the richest man alive, with no one who loves him, with nothing left to live for. He attained all of the riches and none of the happiness.

Kane unleashes all of his anger and fury and regret against a bedroom. It is one of my favorite scenes of all time; I think the most memorable of the film. He ruined everything good in his life. His marriage to Susan Alexender is a great example. Why did he force her to keep performing? Why did he isolate them from the world? How did he let things fester and escalate to the point of violence? How much of Kane is a natural villain versus how much is he the product of his mother’s abandonment?

As he rages, he comes upon a snowglobe that reminds him of the day his mom sold him away. Kane recalls the moment when his chance for happiness was stolen. What if I could go back to that happy time? What if my mother never sent me away? What if I had done things differently? Would I have been a better, happier person if this hadn’t happened to me?

But he can’t get a second chance. That’s not how life works. From my perspective, Kane didn’t die wistfully thinking about being happy as a kid, but died feeling the greatest sense of remorse and regret. I purposefully extended the 2nd clip to include Kane walking in front of a mirror where we see infinite Kanes. This could represent all the versions of Kane that could have been, and they all end the same way. Was Kane condemned and destined to live a life he regrets?

I have to admit that I’m not well read on this movie, but I know that much has been written about the psychoanalysis of Kane. I think it’s terrible what happened to Kane. That his father was so abusive and life so terrible that Kane’s mom thought he was better off without them. What heartbreak he must have felt, likely never understanding or agreeing with this life-shaping decision. To what levels of damage did this inflict upon his mental health? The acting by Agnes Moorehead (Kane’s mother) is a standout; she has a deeply saddening thousand-yard stare. Kane has the same stare when he holds the snowglobe in the 2nd clip, finally realizing what he’s become. While I empathize with his traumatic upbringing, on his deathbed, I choose to believe that his black heart was full of regret.

My lasting impression is not of the technical achievements nor the social commentary of Charles Foster Kane. I gain from Citizen Kane the opportunity to self-reflect on my own life. On my own upbringing, my principles, my successes, my failures, my happiness, my sadness. Kane reminds me to appreciate the positive things you have in life. The happy things are your greatest accomplishments, whether by your own doing or by chance. Be true to your values. Don’t spend your life manipulating and mistreating people. Don’t sabotage the good things you have and wind up an old person, alone, full of regret. I can think of nothing truly sadder.