A Confession

I hate the movie Citizen Kane. Yes, that Citizen Kane. The one that is typically placed number one on the top 100 lists of movies of all time... or at the very least in the top 10. I figure that I do enough political, societal, and economic ranting and decided to expand my horizons. To those who know me best, there is no surprise when a rant begins about anything that might be conceived as stupid. Stupid books. Stupid restaurants. Stupid people (of course.) Stupid behaviors (of people, businesses, government, animals, etc.) Stupid customs (see, I also don't discriminate based on religious, cultural, or geospatial influences either.) Stupid research. Stupid philosophies. Stupid and inappropriate commercials about medical or personal hygiene products. Stupid uses of resources. You get the idea.

So, why Citizen Kane?

I first watched this film only a few months ago after hearing about it for years. No one could ever describe to me what was so wonderful about it, but I figured it must be good. After all, people for years have heralded it as the greatest film ever made, so, really how could it be bad? And, it's not like I don't appreciate a classic film every now and again. I'm by no means a classic movie aficionado, but I certainly enjoy most standards. I also love Woody Allen films (which aren't classic, but are certainly artistic and provocative in many cases.) Among our collection of over 250 movies, I don't own a Woody Allen film. Probably because I would never turn it off and proceed to become a pompous, head-up-my-ass, miscreant. The same goes for any book by Walker Percy. The intellectual fervor they cultivate is great in the moment, but I believe should only be taken in small doses to prevent oneself from taking on the persona of Socrates in The Clouds.

I was hoping that Citizen Kane would have this same effect... or at least have a good, character-driven plot that wonderfully cultivated intrigue in the resolution of the story. Maybe I would have been less disappointed if I had studied Hearst more beforehand, or read the synopsis online. However, despite being somewhat interested in who Rosebud was, I hated the film. It was coarse and left a bitter taste in my mouth. I can stand watching films that don't end happily, but still were a work of art or probed an important question. After all, there is not comedy without its tragic counterpart. But this was just ugly and below depressing. In ways, it showed the ugliest parts of human nature, society, business, journalism, family relations, and government. Maybe that was its brilliance. Yet, it also showed none of the redeeming qualities. In the end, you were sickened by Kane, and would have felt bad for him never returning to his family and experiencing more good memories of which Rosebud was emblematic, except he had become so despicable it just made his life all the more worthless. With all he had "achieved" in his life including his [unfinished] home and its museum of beautiful possessions, all he ever cared about was his rosebud sled that he hasn't used since he was a boy. Many people experience tragedy and separation from loved ones or their home environments, yet still can love and value their lives. Not Kane.

Maybe I just hated it because Kane's character is an affront to every value I hold dear - in life and art - or maybe because if this film is what critics and the masses have deemed to be the "best" of all time then human nature is more ugly that I care to believe. And, while there certainly are people like Kane in the world, I'd like to think their numbers are few and should not be celebrated.

This does not mean that I think art in any form should be censored or that Orson Welles should not have made Citizen Kane. And, while I still would not personally like the film, I would hesitate to disparage it so greatly if it was not consistently deemed the best.

So, film critics and movie aficionados out there, why am I wrong? What am I missing about this supposedly great film? It could be that the topic was so harsh that I missed something vital, so I would love to learn why my opinion differs so vastly from the masses.