Citizenfour
A nerve-racking documentary captures Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras, and Glenn Greenwald as a secret surveillance disclosure becomes an international reckoning over privacy and state power.
Overview
A whistleblower's revelations shake the foundations of national security and privacy.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- paranoid
- urgent
- sobering
- political discussion night
- documentary film night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as riveting, exceptionally immediate political documentary cinema that transforms surveillance disclosures into a tense examination of twenty-first-century civil liberties.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The camera observes the Hong Kong meetings with Edward Snowden while the surveillance disclosures are actively being prepared and released.
Encrypted communications, covert NSA programs, and pervasive monitoring create an atmosphere of justified paranoia.
Snowden, Greenwald, and Poitras debate how evidence of illegal surveillance should be disclosed to the public.
The revelations concern mass surveillance, privacy, national security, and the boundaries of governmental authority.
Films like Citizenfour, and why
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Shares investigative journalism, whistleblower testimony, institutional secrecy, and urgent documentary suspense.
The Fog of War
Shares observational political documentary filmmaking, government accountability, and civil-liberties concerns.
All the President's Men
Shares real-time investigative tension, surveillance themes, and a focus on abuse of state power.
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
Shares whistleblowing, national-security revelations, and morally charged documentary examination of governmental power.
Movie Details
- Director
- Laura Poitras
- Release Date
- 2014-10-10
- Runtime
- 113 min
- Rating
- 7.7 / 10 (1450)
Cast
- Edward Snowden
- Glenn Greenwald
- Laura Poitras
- William Binney
- Barack Obama
- Jacob Appelbaum
- Julian Assange
- Jeremy Scahill
- Kevin Bankston
- Ewen MacAskill
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Citizenfour about?
- A nerve-racking documentary captures Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras, and Glenn Greenwald as a secret surveillance disclosure becomes an international reckoning over privacy and state power.
- What is Citizenfour like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Citizenfour as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Citizenfour violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Citizenfour.
- What did critics think of Citizenfour?
- Critics broadly regard the film as riveting, exceptionally immediate political documentary cinema that transforms surveillance disclosures into a tense examination of twenty-first-century civil liberties.
- Which films are like Citizenfour?
- Films with a similar feel include The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The Fog of War, All the President's Men, and We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks.
- How long is Citizenfour?
- Citizenfour runs 113 minutes.
- Where can I watch Citizenfour?
- In United States, Citizenfour streams on Philo, Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel.
