Author’s Note: While I understand that the views of an atheist like Ayn Rand might not be most appropriate for this site, her rational and constitutionalist approach to government is something that I think all of us would welcome.
Additionally, during the documentary’s closing minutes, its exposure of the massive growth of Big Government in America is something that remains vital to understanding the efforts being made by this current administration (and the previous one), to curtail rights, be they religious or otherwise. All of them things that Ayn Rand would have protested furiously.
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Currently available for free on Hulu.com is “Ayn Rand and the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged”. It contains a lot of useful background about both the book and Ayn Rand herself. Long before this documentary was produced (2012), I had already been maintaining for years that—second only to George Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984”—“Atlas Shrugged” was one of the most prophetic books of the 20th century.
This movie does little to dispel that notion and much to impress upon its viewers just how dire the circumstances have become since the book’s 1957 publication. At its finish this piece also gives a brief introduction into the 2011 movie production of the novel as well.
This work is well worth watching, if only for a better understanding of the author herself. Perhaps, most telling of all, are the revealing insights provided by the examination of universally negative critical reviews even as the book reached number four on the New York Times bestseller list. An example: A poll of academics and literary experts found that group citing James Joyce’s “Ulysses” as the most important work of the 20th century. The same poll conducted among the reading public saw “Atlas Shrugged” nominated for that honor. Quite telling all in all and in perfect keeping with every last poor review the book received.
As an added bonus, above is Part I of Ayn Rand being interviewed by Johnny Carson (also Part II) on the Tonight Show in 1967. Finally, here is an 1959 interview of Ayn Rand by Mike Wallace.
