Citizen Kane (1941)

Charles Foster Kane is a very maverick, eccentric and narcissistic person who runs a newspaper called the New York Inquirer. He meets with a lot of success and is even in line to be the next US President after getting married to a President's niece. But, his arrogant ways and affair with a singer called Susan bring him down and his political hopes are thrashed. He later marries Susan

He doesn't respect his friends and colleagues and slowly starts living a life of solitude as it gets miserable for him. He forces Susan to become an opera singer when she doesn't have the talent to be one.

His later years are spent in solitude after even Susan ditches him. He dies uttering the words "Rosebud". Kane's childhood and his life are depicted in flashback mode as a journalist attempts to find the significance of Kane's last utterance through some memoirs and a series of interviews with Kane's associates and Susan.

In the end, as his belongings, statues and various other items are burned in his self-built palace "Xanadu", Rosebud continues to remain the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle for the journalist. We get to know what Rosebud is, in the end. It isn't much of a shock, though.

Review

• The rise and fall of Kane has been depicted in a very engaging manner. Never a dull moment. A truly unique man, Kane is 
• The English diction in the movie is so correct and a delight to listen to, though a bit dramatic and old fashioned, obviously. 
• The makeup for Kane as he ages, is quite artificial. Being 1941,one can't expect much.