Atlas Shrugged: The Screening

by Angela Keaton, LRC Blog
Feb. 25, 2011

Imagine if the producers of As the World Turns and Dirty Sexy Money got together and rewrote your favorite novel for the Facebook generation.

It’s not as bad as you think. It’s not bad at all. Dare say, given the timing, it’s actually important. This isn’t about pleasing Rothbardians, the moldy oldies at Cato, or Dr. Peikoff. The good news of Ayn Rand has finally and gratefully been liberated from the professional Objectivists.

A few hours ago I had the honor of viewing the first LA screening of Atlas Shrugged, Part 1. On April 15th, Every Ron Paul fan under 30 should get a seat for the opening.

The YAL kids can get the Objectivist rap elsewhere. What young libertarians need are life lessons wrapped in an easy to watch package. Here they are without spoilers.

If you do anything with your life, there is no shortage of parasitic in-laws, lawyers, and phony do gooders who will suck the blood from you then beat your lifeless body. Metaphorically speaking, if you are lucky. Grant Bowler manages to capture the put-upon Hank Rearden without ever eliciting pathos.
Bullies yammer a lot about the poor. Play upon the decent and hard working man’s sense of justice. Always know more than you do about oppression, especially when they are well-heeled white, older men who work for “councils” in Washington, D.C.
Women who aren’t slaves to whims, “hormones,” or learned helplessness will always be written off as “cold.”

102 minutes. No profanity, physical violence, or nudity.