The film Citizen Kane is based on a series of flashbacks from the different people in his life. The narrator in Citizen Kane during the “News on the March” newsreel montage is flawless. Rather than being a character from the film, it is the “voice of accuracy.” It is an “objective” rendition of historical fact. Most other narrators have a subjective persona because they are perceived to be telling a story. Citizen Kane goes on to use several more narrators in the film, the Thatcher manuscript, Bernstein in his office, Leland in the hospital, Susan in the El Rancho nightclub, and with Raymond at the end of the movie.
Each of these narration’s are provoked by the reporter Thompson, who is in turn motivated by his quest to find out what the elusive “Rosebud” means. Although the narrators cannot tell Mr. Thompson the meaning of “Rosebud,” they fill in the private side of Kane, the side that not many people got to see. Citizen Kane is a distorted narrative based on a series of flashbacks told by narrators with varying points of view. A small piece of the film is that which the reporter Thompson is assigned to find the meaning of “Rosebud.” Then, narrated by Thatcher, the banker who first brought Charles to the city concentrates on Kane’s boyhood and youth.
Bernstein, Kane’s business associates, concentrates on young, idealistic Kane, founding the newspaper and marrying his first wife. And next, Jed Leland, Kane’s former best friend takes Kane to the height of his success and starts the tale of his decline. Susan Alexander, Kane’s second wife, narrates her nightmarish singing career and the break up of their marriage. Then Raymond, Kane’s butler, describes Kane’s lonely death, and leads Thomson to abandon his search. The epilogue has no narrator or is narrated by the camera which pans across Kane’s belonging to discover the mysterious word “Rosebud.” The trauma of the abrupt end to Kane’s simple childhood seemed to echo throughout the film, from the end, to the beginning, and back to the end. There is obviously more than one narrator in the film, there are several in fact.
The Essay on Critical Analysis of “Citizen Kane” by Orson Welles
Directed, produced and starring Orson Welles, Citizen Kane is famous for the many remarkable scenes, cinematic and narrative techniques which help to revolutionized the film industry. Written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz, filmed by Gregg Toland, Kane is brilliantly crafted remembrances of Mr. Bernstein's investigations. Kane draws much of its magnetism from its deviation from classic ideals ...
The reason is because it is sometimes more appealing to the audience when different characters from Kane’s past come together and say what they can about his climb to success, fall, and ultimately his death. It is only after Mr. Thompson and the other reporters leave Xanadu that we learn that “Rosebud” was printed on the sled from Kane’s childhood. Although the plot of the film, the search for rosebud, was somewhat insufficient.
