Citizen Kane

Wealthy septuagenarian tycoon Charles Foster Kane, publisher of the Inquirer chain of newspapers, has just passed away ostensibly alone in his Florida hilltop fortress, Xanadu. He was a love him or hate him type of person, his detractors considering him a megalomaniac who influenced the news as much as he reported on it, with his supporters considering him a defender of the unadulterated truth. A documentary team is preparing a newsreel about him, they well aware of many of the facts of his life including the following. He was born into a poor family, but a financial windfall led to his parents giving up custody of him for him to live under the guardianship of banker Walter Parks Thatcher, who would manage his trust until he became of age. That financial windfall was enough for him to live more than comfortably no matter how much he spent or would make over his lifetime. He having brought his college best friend, Jedediah Leland, in at the start of his publishing foray. He having two disastrous marriages both ending in divorce, the first to socialite Emily Norton, the niece of the US President, and the second to poor aspiring singer Susan Alexander, who would have remained in obscurity if she was to make it solely on her singing abilities. And his unsuccessful attempt at politics. Wanting more than what this public knowledge has produced, the newsreel team embarks on a different angle, they dispatching one of their own, Jerry Thompson, to do research and interview those alive in Kane's past life who may know about the issue which they believe may provide some deep seated insight into him as a man, namely the meaning behind his dying word: rosebud.