Multiple narrators tell he story of Charles Foster Kane's life. We see his life in a newsreel format, in Thatcher's memoirs, and as told by Bernstein, Leland, Susan Alexander, and even Raymond, the butler. What is the point of telling the story in this way? Does each narrator give a specific "spin" or have a particular bias? Does each see a distinctive aspect of Kane's personality? Is each section told in a different way, utilizing different techniques of filming (such as camera angles, deep focus, lighting, or even choice of music)? What" bang for our buck" do we get from this jigsaw narration? Is it equal to or greater than the sum of its parts?
Citizen Kane is a movie about the life of Walter Foster Kane. He was a very rich and successful newspaper reporter, owner of the Inquirer, a less successful politician, and owner of a Chicago opera house he made for one of his wives. The story of his life is told from multiple peoples perspectives of him on the time they knew him, making for a story that has zero of the main characters personal thoughts and feelings. Only what the current narrator felt like Walter meant. This leads to the viewer only having a general understanding of the personality of Walter Kane. People make assumptions of why he made decisions, and we only see Walter whenever he interacts with the current narrator. Almost making the main character whoever the narrator is in the moment instead of Walter. It also paints Walter’s actions in a different light depending on the narrator. Mr. Thatcher sees him as an ungrateful son, Bernstein sees him as a ruthless boss, Leland as a friend who betrayed him, and Susan sees him as someone who was mentally and sometimes physically abusive. All different sides to who Walter truly was but never the full picture as these happened behind closed doors in some cases. The end of the movie summarizes this perfectly, no small word or phrase can define a man's life. Jigsawing the pieces together will never get you the full picture. This makes the story of Citizen Kane intriguing up until the end, following the story just like the reporter is keeps the viewer invested up until the very end, where we find out Rosebud was something we saw at the very beginning of the movie.
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