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Review: Movie Review: Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life; Strand Releasing,
1997, 125 minutes; 9.0/10; Rating: PG-13
This is a wonderful documentary
about the life and philosophy of Ayn Rand. It
starts with her childhood in Russia,
and shows many interesting still photos from early 20th century Russia
and the US.
Her progress as a writer, starting in a movie studio in the 1930's, is
surprising. In older days, it was very difficult for new authors with unusual
ideas to get published. There are many scenes in which the older Ayn Rand is interviewed, and she powerfully explains her
philosophy of objectivism, individualism, virtuous selfishness, and
self-ownership. Hardly self-indulgent, she stayed married to one many for
over fifty years.
What is
also interesting about this film is that it does render a long period of
history, from her point of view, perhaps—of how we gradually became a more
individualistic (as opposed to egalitarian or hierarchical) society. But for Ayn Rand, the right to choose one’s own course in life –
a sense of psychological surplus – was what makes life worth living.
The Fountainhead (1949,
United Artists, dir. King Vidor, based on novel by Ayn
Rand and screenplay by Ayn Rand, 114 min, PG)
presents Gary Cooper as the iconoclastic architect Howard Roark, with Kent
Smith as the more conventional Peter Keating; Patricia Neal is the irresistible
Dominque Francon and Raymond
Massey is the tragic and self-defeating Gail Wynand.
Rand always chooses such great names for her
characters! The old black-and-white film seems rushed and doesn’t quite
capture the spirit of the book as well as it could. Atlas Shrugged is listed as in
production for a 2007 release (Baldwin Group).
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