Posted on 04/11/2011 4:18:45 PM PDT by BCrago66
“Atlas Shrugged, Part I” comes to the big screen April 15. I’ve seen the picture on an advance DVD, and for fans of Ayn Rand--and she was one of the heroes of my youth--it is well worth seeing. They will like it, mostly. It is Rand’s world, and remains true to the book. The movie falls short of the book, but given what sort of book it is, and that the movie was financed by a fan, and done in a hurry by a less-experienced director with non-famous actors on a limited budget, it is a creditable effort.
The novel “Atlas Shrugged,” published in 1957, is a perennial seller with millions of readers and many fans. It is 1168 pages long. There are too many speeches in it, so that 50 to 100 pages are excessive from a literary point of view, but otherwise the story is tightly plotted and told. It is not a story that can be condensed into a movie to be seen at one sitting.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
In that connection, one suggestion: If you're going to see Atlas Shrugged anyway, think of buying the ticket in advance via Fandango. These purchases are quickly measurable, and racking up ticket sales will help the movie appear on more screens. And more screens means more cultural influence.
BTW, here’s a more interesting review, from the Detroit News:
“Movie review: Atlas Shines”
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110410/MIVIEW/104100330/1467/OPINION01/Movie-review-—Atlas—Shines
I disagree with Ayn Rand on two points: 1) Her lack of belief in God, and 2) Her Objectivism doesn't take children into account.
I'll be seeing it at the first show in Seattle on Friday. Bought my ticket well in advance.
By it’s nature, a movie cannot focus on Rand’s entire philosophy. It basically dramatizes her political and economic beliefs, which I suspect you for the most part agree with, if you’re a Freeper.
April 15th. Tax day. No accident, that.
I agree on both counts, but her message about the treatment of money as an evil far, far outweighs those two things, in my opinion. That is how powerful that message is.
In advance of the movie, I have begun listening to the audiobook again, and her book scares the crap out of me in the same way “Witness” (by Whittaker Chambers) did when I read it for the first time.
I suspect many people who hate her book are also atheists (libs) so the movie won’t be lost to them, they wouldn’t consider the message anyway.
Bruce,
Where do I get one of those DVDs?
Only 1 theater in the Pittsburgh area, and it is West Homestead? What the heck were they thinking? Why not a location in the South Hills?
A solid review, that. From all I’ve read, the filmmakers seem to have achieved a minor miracle with a $15 million budget. Perhaps they should be running the government!
Great advice. As a non-movie goer, I didn’t know any of this. Thanks.
Good for you! My wife and I will be on vacation, and I know for a fact they will not show that movie down on Cape Cod, but I will see it as soon after I get back as I can...
That’s crazy because I know there’s a lot of Objectivist / libertarian types in the the Oakland area - where University of Pittsburgh & Carnegie-Mellon is - who would definitely fill a theater. Someone could make some money by renting a theater and getting the reels themselves from the distributer.
I am listening to the book again (I think the seventh time I have either read or listened) in preparation for the movie, and in light of what is going on in the government today, it appalls me.
The open hostility towards the making of money parallels what is in the book to a very high degree, as is the attitude of those who hope to profit and loot off of those who can still manage to do it.
Man, RC...every single time I see that, it makes my eyes hurt!
My departed mother would likely say: “Dear, if you keep crossing your eyes like that, they are going to stay that way!”
I’d say gravity is taking it’s toll a bit too early in her young life. Maybe she shouldn’t shrug so much.
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