I just finished watching the first part of a movie trilogy titled after the 1957 novel by Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged.” The movie was released in April.
On a scale of one to 10, I would rank it an eight, maybe a nine. The pace was fast, the subject matter engrossing, the acting was decent, at times captivating. The movie’s immediate relevance jumped off the television screen, and its occasional beauty was stunning.
The soundtrack is compelling. You are carried along by it as the camera sweeps across a landscape or moves among the characters seated in an office, and it complements the movie in a way not often done. I downloaded it on iTunes this morning and am listening to it now.
When I was in high school working at a newspaper, I met a man who introduced me to Rand’s ideas, via a novel she wrote in the 1940’s, titled “The Fountainhead.”
When you read Rand’s books, you won’t mistake her prose for that of Thomas Wolfe. But the ideas embodied in her sometimes-wooden characters and strained, stilted dialogue are eloquent, and occasionally the writing soars:
“Howard Roark laughed. He stood naked at the edge of a cliff. The lake lay far below him. A frozen explosion of granite burst in flight to the sky over motionless water. The water seemed immovable, the stone flowing. The stone had the stillness of one brief moment in battle when thrust meets thrust and the currents are held in a pause more dynamic than motion. The stone glowed, wet with sunrays.”
If you care to see the movie “Atlas Shrugged Part I,” and are willing to gamble on being inspired for a short while, it’s now on DVD. And, if you’re really ambitious, read her books.
Jerry LaVaute is a special writer for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at glavaute@gmail.com or call 1-734-740-0062.
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