Citizen Kane DVD Learning Guide

Citizen Kane is considered to be one of the greatest American films ever made. Orson Welles directed, co-wrote and starred in this film classic. The film won an Academy Award in 1941 for Best Original Screenplay, and focuses on the life of an influential publishing tycoon, Charles Foster Kane. Citizen Kane gives us a glimpse of life in America in the early 1900's and highlights themes of power, corruption and vanity as exhibited by Kane. We meet Kane on his deathbed, and then look back through the events of his life that lead to his lonely, final minutes. The characters in the film focus on the last word uttered by Kane, 'œRosebud', as they remember the events of his life and try to understand this legendary man.