In my opinion, the editing, the cinematography, the direction, and the story are perfect. These elements are not only original and creative, but are brilliant; and simply timeless. What sticks out for me personally about this flick is that this film was written, produced, directed, and starred in by the same person. I can only assume that Orson Welles truly challenged the talent hollywood had to offer in the golden era of film; considering Mr. Welles was an established radio personality already.
The way I think Citizen Kane truly relates to film theory is due to the ingenius editing. From what I have learned from watching Citizen Kane is how a film can pass years worth of time in just a matter of few seconds; the montages in the film significantly reduced the amount of time it would normally take filmmakers to portray a long timespan. This style of story telling was thought out of the box for its time and was very influential on future filmmakers. The technique is in fact still used till this day!
Like mentioned before, the film is simply timeless. There is a reason why this film is shown in every film history class and the fact the film reigns on the American Film Institute's list of top 100 films makes it an easy pick for me.
