• Share

Have you ever read Atlas Shrugged?

Disclaimer: I’m not one of those Ayn Rand worshippers who thinks that Atlas Shrugged was the greatest book ever written. I am not an objectivist. I read and enjoyed it, but it did not change my life in any meaningful way.

For those unfamiliar with Ayn Rand’s masterwork, Atlas Shrugged is a sort of cautionary tale of progressivism gone wild. The astounding thing about it is that if you didn’t know better, you would swear that the book was written as a repudiation of President Obama and his quasi-socialist policies. Ironic that “progressive” has recently come back into the popular vernacular after being replaced for the last half a century by the term “liberal.”

Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 will be making its way to a movie theater near you on April 15th. Maybe not a theater too awfully near you, since it is listed as a “limited release.” Now progressives will see the flaws in their thinking exposed on the big screen, opening up their philosophy to the same scrutiny that conservatives have endured for decades.

It will be interesting to see how well the film does. It certainly won’t get any help from the far-left Hollywood establishment. Given the obvious and deeply entrenched liberal bias in Hollywood, it is pretty amazing that the film was made at all. The main stream press is sure to pan the film, regardless of the quality. The reviews will decry the acting, the special effects, the plot, the directing. There can be no tolerance for any film that promotes an ideology opposed to the progressive notion of tolerance.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ayn Rand acolytes are going to love the film no matter what. They are to Rand’s book what libertarians are to Ron Paul. Anything Rand said, wrote, or did cannot be questioned. Period.

The commercial success of the film will be determined by the rest of us, real Americans willing to think for ourselves and to judge the movie on its own merits. The real success or failure of Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 – judged more by ideology than dollar signs – will be seen in the influence it has (or doesn’t have) over the millions of Americans who are unfamiliar with Rand’s work and the impact it has (or doesn’t have) on the next election.