“Citizen Kane” was released on May 1, 1941, and over the course of eight decades, it still endures as one of the greatest and most influential movies of all time. It was almost universally hailed by critics, earning extremely high scores on major review sites like the American Film Institute, where it is ranked as the greatest American film. On the Sight & Sound, one of the most respected film polls, it was placed third among the greatest films of all time. Although its exact ranking varies review to review, “Citizen Kane” is largely revered alongside other critically acclaimed classics like “The Godfather,” “Jurassic Park,” “Jaws” and “Pulp Fiction.” But with all the love and affection it gets, a question comes to mind: why is it considered one of the greatest movies of all time? 

“Citizen Kane” has pioneered many techniques of filmmaking, screenwriting and “rule-breaking,” giving many filmmakers in the 1940s the courage or the mainstream ability to self-express. The film also came out during an era of restricted content due to the Hays Code, a strict set of censorship rules that controlled what movies could show, limiting violence, sexuality, political criticism and even certain character behaviors. Because filmmakers had to work within these restrictions, the movie’s bold visual style, unconventional structure and rebellious attitude toward storytelling were even more sensational. Many films that were released after “Citizen Kane” took inspiration from it, creating new modern classics including “Parasite,” “Interstellar,” “No Country for Old Men” and “Blade Runner 2049.”

Writing, and more specifically screenwriting, is often seen as the first step and blueprint to the filmmaking process. It is the first clear oversight of how a movie should play out, the characters, the dialogue, the themes and the story which lay a foundation for the final result of a film.  Even some of the most renowned films first started off with a piece of paper, like “12 Angry Men” and “Casablanca.” Scripts are used as guides for the actors and crew, references for the director or producer and for further add-ons during pre- and post-production. Even “Citizen Kane,” with the collaboration of Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz, as screenwriters, had to start from somewhere. 

Already a radio star with a prolific stage career, Welles was able to sign an unprecedented contract with Holly Studio RKO Radio Pictures, granting him almost complete creative freedom and making him the director, producer, co-writer and star of “Citizen Kane.” The screenplay was the first glimpse of Welles’ revolutionary ideas of fragmented storytelling and multiple perspectives, while also staying true to overarching themes of corruption, identity, critiques of “the American Dream,” the loss of innocence and the search for meaning and love. “Citizen Kane” utilizes a common trope of a rags-to-riches story, but flips it to being a story of a man who, as he rises through the social ladder, slowly betrays his moral code and sense of self. The character Charles Foster Kane initially embraces ideals of public service and journalistic integrity, but ultimately becomes consumed by power, control and personal ego. The film shows his moral demise by contrasting his earlier ideals with Kane’s tactics of yellow journalism through his business, a strategy used to mislead and sensationalize stories and reports, in which he used the news to fit his agenda. Kane also slowly becomes more isolated as his need for control continues to grow larger, which alienates his friends and two wives, both of whom leave him. All of these aspects of  Kane left Welles and Mankiewicz with a dark character study unlike any of the patriotic war or morale-boosting dramas that were popular at the time. After many drafts and contributions, the final revised script was released on July 16, 1941. 

When production began, the screenplay was used as groundwork for a fragmented, psychological story with room for innovations and self-aware artistry from Orson Welles and crew members alike. 

The film begins with Kane’s death and his last word, “rosebud” which threw the media into a frenzy as they attempted to figure out its meaning. The audience follows a journalist investigating Kane’s life by interviewing his friends and family, weaving flashbacks and memories throughout each interaction as the audience gets a deeper look into Kane’s character and life. Movies like “Intolerance,” “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” and many other films from the silent era period (1890s-late 1920s) have also used non-linear storytelling, but what makes “Citizen Kane” really stand out is its complete lack of guidance: the film thrives by utilizing rapid-cutting and constant superimpositions to immerse the viewer into Kane’s slowly declining mental state and his relationships with the people around him, creatively revealing his overall character psyche. Though portrayed in a way that could be confusing, rather than holding your hand and showing you something entertaining, “Citizen Kane” leads through a story that puts so much trust in the audience to not only follow the story, but to also come up with their own interpretations through its thought-provoking themes.

Welles was openly progressive, anti-authoritarian, pro-labor and fiercely critical of concentrated wealth and media power, and he expressed these beliefs consistently throughout his early theatrical career. These ideas were channeled directly into “Citizen Kane,” his most politically charged film, by showing how Kane uses his newspaper tycoon to shape elections, sway public opinion and attack opponents while pretending to speak for the “common man.” 

Welles exposes Kane’s hypocrisy not only through the story but through the film’s visual language. During the classical period of Hollywood (1920s-1960s), cameras were expected to act as steady, invisible observers, never calling attention to themselves. Welles broke this convention by offering radical perspectives—such as extreme low-angle and ground-level shots—that make Kane and other characters appear larger and more imposing, rather than relying on shot-reverse-shots (cutting between two characters talking) or traditional close-ups and medium shots (framing faces or bodies more tightly). Within a single fluid composition, the camera usage gives his audience multiple narrative elements through each frame. Over time, these techniques became foundational tools for filmmakers to express their own narratives in new creative ways. Some prime examples of this include Sam Mendes using long takes to convert relentless tension and the dangers of war in “1917,” Damien Chazelle using wide, flowing frames to pay homage to classical musicals and further romanticizations in “La La Land” or Phil Lord and Christopher Miller using extended takes to introduce characters and the overall mood and tone of “The Lego Movie.” Just as Welles used these methods to communicate his political critique through subtext to open symbolism, later directors reshaped them to serve their own artistic intentions. 

It was also thematically dense with the recurring theme of childhood loss, psychological downfall and identity at its core to a character. It is so morally complex and so different from other characters at that time like the stoic western hero, the melancholic mistress or the brooding detective that was so common at the time and never looked as intimately as Kane. With the hints of mystery and ambiguity behind him, the film does analyze Kane introspectively; it utilizes different perspectives to make an otherwise simple story into one that is confusing as to what to feel about this character that is spending so much time on our screens. Ultimately, this leads to interpretations as to what’s going on and what the film means, challenging the film medium to something interpretative like looking at an abstract art piece. 

Directors like Christopher Nolan use these interpretation-like aspects as well, such as in his movie “Inception,” playing with the theme of time like how Welles played with the theme of memory to represent fragmentation and loss. Films like “Mulholland Drive” and “Lost Highway,” both directed by the late David Lynch, also play heavily with surrealism and dream logic. “Citizen Kane” broke cinematic conventions while being released to a mainstream audience, and that in turn has broadened the horizons of so many aspiring filmmakers, knowing that they can create art without it being linear and can explore personal themes without limitations. 

“Citizen Kane” is often regarded as one of the greatest films ever made by film critics, historians, scholars and aspiring filmmakers, and has been for over eight decades. Though modern audiences may not feel the same way, the influence and what it has done in today’s cinema is undeniable. There are very few films like it that have shocked cinema in such a way like “Citizen Kane” so much so that a question comes to mind: will there ever be a movie like “Citizen Kane”? The answer is complicated. Every second there exist people with passion who want to innovate and take parts of their personal experiences to create artwork. Whether what they make is good or bad depends entirely on the general audience and how much that piece of work resonates with us. The same could be said for “Citizen Kane.” It isn’t perfect; not every scene holds up or promises to be this big, profound, spiritual awakening moment. Still, the film holds up, and many people seem to get a lot out of it. In the end, the importance of “Citizen Kane” is not that it must be loved by everyone, but that it has taught cinema how to think and is ultimately more about understanding how and why people make art that means so much to them, us, or the world. That is beautiful in itself.