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IMDb rating 8
Critic rating Average critic rating
Critic rating 8.3

Reviews

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Critic David Ehrlich

...so remarkable that, at least for the immediate future, her craft is likely to be overshadowed by her access, her storytelling overshadowed by her opportunity.

Read full review at The A.V. Club
Critic Godfrey Cheshire
rated 10

...it is not an overstatement, I think, to call “Citizenfour,” LauraPoitras’ film about Edward Snowden, the movie of the century (to date).

Read full review at Roger Ebert
Critic Simon Crook
rated 8

Alarming and essential – anyone with a phone should see it.

Read full review at Empire
Critic Spencer Ackerman
rated 8

...the culmination of a post-9/11 trilogy that spans a dark horizon from Iraq to Guantánamo, is a triumph of journalism and a triumph for journalism.

Read full review at The Guardian
Critic Uffe Paulsen
rated 8

Det er en øjeåbnende tur bag afsløringen af det største amerikanske læk af fortrolige oplysninger nogensinde.

Read full review at Soundvenue
Critic Alexander Kardelo
rated 8

...en modern politisk thriller om makt, teknologi, media och att värna om rätten till sin frihet och privatliv.

Read full review at Moviezine

Cast & Crew

Laura Poitras
As Self
Laura Poitras
Director
Barack Obama
As Self

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Citizenfour about? Toggle content

Citizenfour is a documentary film that follows the story of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked classified information about the US government's mass surveillance programs. The film begins with Snowden's initial contact with documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, who was working on a film about surveillance in the post-9/11 era. Snowden, who uses the pseudonym "Citizenfour," offers to provide Poitras with evidence of illegal wiretapping practices by the US National Security Agency (NSA). The film follows Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald as they travel to Hong Kong to meet with Snowden, who reveals his true identity as Edward Snowden. The film captures their tense and secretive meetings in a hotel room, where Snowden explains his motivations for leaking the classified information and discusses the risks he faces. As media outlets discover Snowden's location, he becomes trapped in Hong Kong and eventually seeks refugee status with the United Nations. The US government requests his extradition, but Snowden manages to leave Hong Kong and is granted temporary asylum in Russia. The film follows Greenwald and Poitras as they continue to report on NSA programs and interview Snowden remotely from Russia. The film closes with Greenwald and Snowden discussing new details about US intelligence programs while taking extreme precautions to protect their communication from surveillance. Citizenfour provides an inside look at one of the most significant political events of our time while exploring themes of privacy, freedom of speech, and government accountability.

Where can I stream Citizenfour? Toggle content

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What movies are similar to Citizenfour? Toggle content

Some movies that have similar genres and were produced around the same time as Citizenfour include On Putin's Blacklist, Homme Less, Age of Champions, Iris, Tickled, The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story.