The Most Discussed Film in Cinema History

Few films have been written about, argued over, and dissected more than Citizen Kane (1941). For decades it topped critical polls as the greatest film ever made. Its reputation has sometimes created a backlash — the film that film students are supposed to admire but secretly find cold. Neither the worship nor the dismissal does it justice. Citizen Kane is a genuine landmark, and understanding why requires looking at what Orson Welles was actually doing in 1941.

Who Was Orson Welles?

Orson Welles arrived in Hollywood at 25 years old with an extraordinary contract that gave him near-total creative control — something almost unheard of in the studio system. He had already caused national panic with his War of the Worlds radio broadcast and had been the talk of New York theatre for years. He was, to put it mildly, not a typical first-time director.

He chose as his debut a thinly veiled portrait of media mogul William Randolph Hearst, filtered through a mystery structure: a reporter investigates the meaning of a dying man's last word — "Rosebud."

What Made It Technically Revolutionary

Working with cinematographer Gregg Toland, Welles deployed techniques that were either genuinely new or used in combinations nobody had attempted before:

  • Deep focus photography: Objects in the extreme foreground and background are simultaneously in sharp focus, creating compositions of unusual depth and complexity.
  • Low-angle shots: Welles frequently positioned the camera near floor level, giving characters an imposing, almost mythic scale — and requiring the crew to dig holes in studio floors to achieve the angles.
  • Non-linear narrative: The story unfolds through multiple unreliable narrators, each offering a partial and contradictory portrait of Kane. This fragmented structure was radical for mainstream cinema.
  • Expressive sound design: Welles brought his radio sensibility to the soundtrack, using overlapping dialogue, ambient sound, and abrupt audio cuts in ways the medium hadn't fully explored.

What It's Actually About

Beyond the technical fireworks, Citizen Kane is a film about the impossibility of truly knowing another person — and perhaps the impossibility of knowing yourself. Kane accumulates power, wealth, and things, but remains fundamentally unknowable, even to those closest to him. The film's structure reinforces its theme: the more testimony we gather, the more fragmented and incomplete the picture becomes.

The famous "Rosebud" reveal is deliberately ironic. Welles himself said it was a "dollar-book Freudian gag" — a simplistic explanation offered for a man whose complexity resists any simple explanation.

Watching It Today

First-time viewers are sometimes surprised that a film this famous doesn't feel more flashy or immediately spectacular. Its power is quieter than its reputation suggests. Watch it attentively — notice the compositions, the transitions, the way Welles uses the frame. It rewards the kind of attention that streaming-era cinema has made less common.

Citizen Kane is available on various streaming platforms and in restored editions. It is, without question, worth your time.