Purpose of Cinema?

I have finally seen Citizen Kane. It was enlightening to finally see this film that is considered such a critical part of American film history and has inspired so many directorial careers. To be honest, I was beginning to feel a bit behind in my cultural education because I had not seen it. So, at long last, I jumped on the bandwagon of 'significant film' and watched.

Of course, the cinematography was brilliant. And the social commentary was also insightful. Its very relevant to the time period we live in now where our culture is permeated with images of the ostentatiously wealthy making fools of themselves.

Nonetheless, I must admit that I really did not enjoy the film. Perhaps I was somehow expecting to be more impressed since it is such a monument in filmmaking. But frankly, I got pretty bored. So there's this rich guy hellbent on self-destruction through obsession with wealth. He can have any material possession that he desires and at the end of his life all he wants is the sled he had as a boy, which is no doubt symbolic of his desire for family and his simple childhood home. I get it already. Don't know that I need to watch it for two more hours.

Perhaps what bothered me about the film was that the cinematography was almost too calculated. Is it possible that the light, the camera angles, the distances between characters all considered brilliant, actually took away some of its humanity?

Which led me to the question, "what is the purpose of film?" Is it to educate, to entertain, to make so sort of comment? As a cautionary tale of the dangers of wealth, it surely excels. As an icon smashing of William Randolph Hearst, it was thorough and impactful. And as I said before, as a piece of cinematic art, its really quite stunning. But as entertainment, I found that it falls short. For the majority of the film I was both bored and disengaged.

I am assuming that this film originally held a large amount of entertainment value. Perhaps I find in unentertaining because I am not a part of the era in which it was made. Does entertainment value expire?

Dear readers, I hope you will opine a bit on your thoughts about film. I'm really interested to have some other input.

And on that note, I'd like to share a short film that I really enjoyed. Giant Steps
It held me in rapt attention the second, third, and fourth times I watched it. Which I suppose could say something about my attention span- the film is only about two and a half minutes long. But in any case, I loved how the animation perfectly depicts the flow of the music. This was a film I thoroughly enjoyed- and if I'm not enjoying it, why bother?