Keith Roberts
The documentary is a good summary of "Atlas Shrugged," and the ethics and politics that inform it. It also has some biographical information about Rand up to the book's publication. It would be a good introduction for people new to the book and her ideas. I started reading Rand about 30 years ago and I wish the documentary would have gone deeper. I would have preferred 30 minutes less of cheerleading and 30 minutes more of exploring her ideas and their ramifications.That the documentary didn't go into Rand's personal life and the Objectivist movement's ups and downs was a mixed blessing. I was surprised that Leonard Peikoff wasn't in the documentary but Amy Peikoff was, and that it completely ignored 9/11 and what I consider Objectivism's hysterical response to Islamic terrorism, which continues to this day.
jeffrey-falwell
My comments here are not on specific content or delivery, like some critics my pose. I simply want to express my fascination with the overall content and that this documentary kept me transfixed on the screen for the entire time. I couldn't look away and my mind raced for hours after watching it. Thinking about what all I had just learned and opened my thoughts in new ways to view society. Ayn Rand's life is discussed so you can understand why she wrote the book and how her early life gave her the philosophy she presented in her books. The discussions about how critics hated her book and called her vile names, including comments that it was an ill-spirited book and gave the impression that she was mean and soulless gave an additional perspective to the way literary elites viewed the world in the 1950s. Definitely worth the time.
Diana Ogarkova
This movie became an inspiring and enjoyable introduction into Ayn Rand's life. I did not read the originals and I was looking for a good summary, since I am mostly interested in her philosophical views (not the fiction aspects of the book). Now I am happy to have invested 83 minutes into the movie, which turned out to be a wonderful summary with a snappy summary of her life all the key quotes from her magnum opus. The movie contains interviews with herself, as well as sharp observations from researchers and students, such as "she was a bomb-thrower" or "America has to live through Atlas Shrugged now".I guess, the phrase "Any work is creative work if done by a thinking mind" applies to this movie - it was definitely done by a thinking mind, and made me think.
gitardood
Most reviewers focus on the so-called "battle" between altruism and selfishness as Rand saw it. Methinks, that both Rand and most reviewers tried to hard to stake out a mutually exclusive territory and defend it. For me, I think that the state should not be compelling via taxation or any other means at their disposal, the populace to be their brother's keeper. Where I part ways with Atlas Shrugged, is selfishness is not a virtue. If those who would like to see an end to gov't sponsored socialism, would realise that individuals then become responsible like the Good Samaritan, for helping the less fortunate, in such a way as to not create dependency on hand outs, then possibly the edifice of state sponsored "charity" ie taxes to "aid" the less fortunate, could be eliminated. Even the Bible says we are to help without encouraging dependency and indolence.
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