The first time I knew about the movie "Citizen Kane" was because when I was a kid, I ran through my dad's encyclopedia. The sequence is divided into 11 volumes, and an index is added; some volumes are more exciting than others because I like to look at all kinds of illustrations at that time, not necessarily because of the words. The third volume is from pinyin fa to guo, which is the one that I thought was more exciting at the time. Somewhere in that volume, I saw a peculiar entry name: Citizen Kane. A fat man with a round face wears a conspicuous hat and a large portrait of him behind him-this is my initial impression of this movie; there are only more than 300 words underneath, but I don't care at all.
I am not a person who watches movies very often, but I am still very interested in the history of movies. Some people say that "Citizen Kane" is the greatest and outstanding achievement. Naturally, it won't slip past my nose-isn't a word "most" enough? Last year, I happened to be quite free, and I often had time to watch movies at home. One night when I saw dozens of film titles, and I didn't know what else to watch, I saw the name of "Citizen Kane", like a cold dish on the dining table, staying there motionless. Because of the spoiled by spoilers, I decided to start from the reputation of this film without looking up the information. The director didn't look at who it was for the time being, and started watching this film, which is almost 80 years old.
After reading it, I was very surprised. Surprise and the feeling of discovering treasures sympathized in my heart, and it felt like being struck by lightning. Rose buds, Wells, Cotton, sleigh, crystal ball, dim bar... These images whizzed past my mind like a revolving lantern. However, you may also see that I did not fully understand the movie the first time.
At the beginning, I thought it was about the life of a man. The biographical newsletter determined the tone of the whole movie. After the newsletter was over, it did not simply begin to tell the person’s life from another angle, but turned the lens to A group of reporters: They don't know what kind of person Kane is. An obituary, the newspaper is enough, but what they want to do is a news film that truly reflects the characteristics of this person, can be conveyed to the audience, and arouse resonance. Thompson, a reporter who had never shown his face, took on the task: to visit Kane’s acquaintances and figure out everything behind it.
Among all the people interviewed by Thompson, I think that the one who knows Kane best is not the official Bernstein, nor his second wife through the veil, but only his former friend— —Jedidiya Lilan played by Cotton, who happens to be a reporter too. What does Kane lack the most? Only by clarifying this question can he figure out where his rosebud's last words come from. Li Lan’s answer is clichéd but realistic: it’s love. Separated from his mother since he was a child, he was trained as a business leader, and then he spent the whole day interacting with people from all walks of life, his subordinates, and his admirers—where is there a relative? The most gracious can only be his friend Li Lan. His first wife? No, political marriage can't give a businessman any psychological comfort; in the movie, aren't they getting more and more alienated with each breakfast? What about the second wife? Was under house arrest in a silent, large and improper palace, without any entertainment except for puzzles; not able to sing an opera, but was promoted as the heroine of an opera, and failed miserably on the first performance; protested these actions, but got nothing. Satisfactory answer: Obviously this is not a marriage in the true sense, but more like a public relations action by Kane.
In summary, Li Lan can become the person who knows Kane best because everyone else has not understood everything about Kane from the source of motivation. Just like the last cynical manservant Raymond, he frankly admitted that he never understood Kane, but this didn't affect his work much. What love does business need? After Kane's newspaper succeeded for the first time, he ridiculed his close comrades at the party because he only needed to establish a business relationship. Li Lan told Thompson bluntly: He lacks love, but thinks that others love him or love him. He wasted countless money, lost countless interpersonal relationships, and only money is left, as well as the works of art shipped from Europe that will never be finished in a lifetime, or even countless. He has become the most unloved person in the world. The second wife did not think that Kane put her in the mansion so that she had the opportunity to see celebrities and nobles every day. It was love, but Kane thought it was love; when his wife was gone, Kane lost his temper, but he did. Stopped in front of the crystal ball that symbolized the childhood he had never had-that was his rare weakness, just like that sleigh. Ironically, the last line of the film is "throw this rubbish in too", and "rubbish" includes the sleigh with the words "rosebud" written on it.
Thompson said that we may not be able to fully understand any one person. Arranging this paragraph in the third position from the bottom of the movie is actually a summary of Kane's life. Only himself and the audience (in a certain sense) can see his character more completely. But does the audience really understand Kane? After watching the first time, I watched the second half of the film a second time, read the synopsis of the plot many times, and combed the whole plot in my mind for a long time before I finally understood the meaning of the film. ; Even so, I can only admit that we are not much better than the group of reporters in the movie. We watched Kane across the movie screen, and didn't watch him like people who were really close to him—maybe this is the point of the movie. "Citizen Kane" may not be the greatest movie, but it is an epoch-making significance, tells a good story, tells a story with excellent means, and contains many interesting characters-a wonderful and extraordinary movie. Wales is immortal.
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