Atlas Shrugged - Part One (The Movie)

On tax day, April 15, Atlas Shrugged - Part One, will premier.  If made true to the book, this may be the most important movie in a generation.  The trailer, show below, certainly looks promising...



Did you notice how Hank Rearden was unapologetic about making money? Too often, Hollywood, the media, and the government act as though profit is a bad thing. Profitability's not bad. Losses are bad. Bankruptcy's bad. Profitability leads to job creation, increasing standards of living, and investment in the future. There's no future in failure.

While Atlas is a story about individualism and liberty, the heroes are entrepreneurs and laissez faire capitalists. Rand celebrates the people who risk everything to create enterprises from the fruits of their own minds. It's about time business is painted in a positive light!

Crony capitalists, who seek to compete through government manipulation of the capitalist system rather than the free market, are not treated well by Rand. If you're unfamiliar with the book the movie is based upon, here's a short video about the book...



In a famous survey by the Library of Congress and Book of the Month Club on its readers' "lifetime reading habits," Atlas was found to be second only to the Bible in "significance to their lives" (as grudgingly reported in the New York Times). If you have never read it, it's a long book. Rand tends to ramble and lecture at times, though always with a purpose. Buy the book now, today. Read it before the movie comes out. It's amazing how a 50 plus year old book is more relevant today than when it was written.

The following interview with the director of the movie suggests that he "gets" the book and is shooting the movie true to Rand...



John Stossel dedicated one of his television shows to Atlas Shrugged. This is a six segment video series, with the first segment the longest. Part One (10:59)...



Part Two (7:43)...



Part Three (6:33)...



The next two segments do not involve a discussion of Ayn Rand or Atlas Shrugged, but the "Nanny State." Part Four (8:20)...



Part Five (6:10)...



In the final segment, Stossel returns to Atlas Shrugged and addresses the flawed notion that capitalism failed and caused our current financial challenges. Part Six (3:28)...