February 11, 2011

Atlas Shrugged (Part 1)

"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors- when you see men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you- when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice- you may know that our society is doomed.”

Posted by Vanderleun at February 11, 2011 7:14 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

The production looks first-rate, but--I hate to say this--some of the acting looks second-rate.

Posted by: ahem at February 12, 2011 7:39 AM

Hollyweird adapting Ayn Rand for the screen? Color me skeptical.

I'll be amazed if this turns out to be any good.

But if it does turn out to be good, well, it couldn't possibly come at a better time.

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2011 8:44 PM

There are certain books for which, when some producer announces its intent to film them, I feel a vast and formless dread. Atlas Shrugged is one such.

Novels of ideas face a particularly rocky road making the transition to film. The strength of the cinematic medium is its ability to depict action -- kinetics -- people and things flying about, not deep thought nor subtle argument.

Rand's novel -- long, talky, episodic, and overtly philosophical -- is, despite its flaws as a work of fiction, the most important novel of ideas of the Twentieth Century. If this movie works out for the better, I'll be greatly relieved...but I'd say it's against the odds.

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at February 13, 2011 2:57 AM

The good thing about putting such an important novel on the big screen is that the audience for the ideas expressed in the book will now be greatly expanded in a more easily consumed visual form.

Readers of the book (those who actually read it as opposed to those who checked out the reviews for their own high school book report) are bound to be disappointed. I just hope that the film carries itself well enough to capture a good part of the market and that Rand's philosophy is not distorted in the process. All other artistic license is fine as long as that happens.

Posted by: daniel at February 14, 2011 4:30 AM

Not it means anything, but the film adaptation of "The Fountainhead" wasn't bad. I just hope that Hollywood trimmed John Galt's 60+ page speech a little bit. It was so tedious that I had to stop myself from flipping forward to the end.

Posted by: physics geek at February 14, 2011 9:59 AM