The Passion of Ayn Rand
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Movie Reviews of The Passion of Ayn Rand
Movie Review: Passion in the sense of love affairs, rather than ideas etc.
Summary: 2 Stars
I was disappointed with this film. I was thinking (or hoping) this film was going to be about the passion of knowledge, ideas, thinking, and any other form of mental stimulation; I really didn't think there was much of that in this film. Maybe I'm just odd in the way I dislike Hollywood's usual portrayal of passion: love affairs et cetera. Passion in this film was portrayed in the Hollywood sense. There was brief mentioning of thoughts, the mind, ideas, the individual, et al, but I felt they were only in idle chatter, and not what really mattered. Maybe all the "Hollywood passion" represented in this film turned me off, but I would have rather spent my time doing something other than watching this film.
Recently I had the pleasure of a watching a different documentary film about Miss Rand called _Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life_. And I think if you are looking for more details actually about her, her life, and her ideas, rather than love affairs which I thought were quite unpleasant within _The Passion of Ayn Rand_, _Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life_ is the film I think you'll enjoy to watch and listen to instead.
Movie Review: I wish I hadn't bought it.
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm an Ayn Rand fan (I don't dare say "follower").I didn't like this movie because in spite of its objectivity, it really wasn't about Ayn Rand!
I mean if they were to nominate it for an Oscar, Ayn Rand's character would be "the supporting actress".
I would have much preferred if the focus was on her. I wanted to learn more about her.
If you're really interested in getting to know what she was about, try ASIN: 630529285X. It's a documentary and VERY accurate and capturing.
Movie Review: Not my favorite version of Ayn Rand
Summary: 1 Stars
Ayn Rand wrote some of my favorite books: The Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged.
Born at the beginning of the 20th Century Russia, in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, Ayn Rand started to read from the early age of six. By the age of nine, it is said that she knew she wanted to dedicate her life to writing and to philosophy.
Russia of the times was focused in collectivism, something Ayn Rand despised. After reading the works of Victor Hugo her character starts to shape. She lived through the Kerensky Revolution and in 1917, through the Bolshevik Revolution. From the start, she denounced communism and when the revolutionaries are victorious and start the painstaking process of taking away property, confiscating the pharmacy her father owned, she decides Russia is not the country for her. The family undergoes poverty and lack of food. While at school, during a class of American History, Ayn develops the ardent desire to become an American citizen. The United States becomes her goal because she wants to join a nation of free men and women, where the rights of the individual are protected by its constitution.
The university where she was studying philosophy is overtaken by communists, but during her last years of study; she enjoys one great pleasure, watching Western films and plays, and decides to enter the State Institute for Cinema Arts to study screenwriting.
Finally, she is permitted to leave Soviet Russia and to visit the United States. Her trip was supposed to last a short time, but she was determined never to return to Russia. New York City, with its skyscrapers, thousand lights, and never ending activity becomes the city that shapes her interpretation of the finest achievements of humanity.
For a while, following her acting career, she travels to Hollywood and meets Cecil B. DeMille, who offers this striking young woman, with piercing eyes, a ride to the set of his movie The King of Kings. Mr. DeMille gives her an opportunity, her first job in the USA, as an extra, a script reader.
She meets actor Frank O'Connor and they strike interesting conversations that result in a marriage until death did they part. She writes The Fountainhead, where she shapes a hero by the name of Howard Roark, an architect, an ideal man that reveals to the world a philosopher that clearly sees how "a man ought to be." She then moves to write Atlas Shrugged, a novel that shares her philosophy through a story, surfacing the concept of objectivism, or how to live on Planet Earth.
Passion is not our favorite view to Ayn Rand. The DVD offers an interpretation of her affair to Nathaniel Branden, but to see how she relates to him and to his wife is sad and almost made us feel that she used her superior wit and intellect to shape these relationships into calculated displays of weak characters. We have always admired Ayn Rand and her marriage to Frank O'Connnor was all we knew about. If all the hypocrisy of this foursome was indeed true, then... as with any hero placed on a pedestal... we found that Ayn Rand did compromise, was unfaithful to her Frank, and was in the end... only human. Frankly, would have rather skipped this film.
Movie Review: The Book and Movie have been Discredited
Summary: 1 Stars
In 2005 James Valliant wrote _The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics_. Up to that point, largely due to this movie and the Branden's two books, I accepted the assertion that she exhibited less-than-ideal behavior in her personal life, and possessed a rather difficult personality. Fortunately, Mr. Valliant's book, along with Marry Ann Sures' _Facets of Ayn Rand_ ([...]) proved that Miss Rand was a far better person than represented by the Branden's books, and it was, in fact, the Brandens who were dishonest and manipulative. If you decide to view this movie, I'd like to suggest you first read the above-mentioned books, in order to benefit from the scrupulous research of Mr. Valliant, as well as the personal and daily relationship between the Sures and Miss Rand. If this movie was represented as pure fiction it might have some limited entertainment value, however since it portends to represent actual people and events, its distortions and errors earn it my lowest rating.Movie Review: Nothing But A Smear Job
Summary: 1 Stars
No, Ayn Rand was not perfect, but this film is nothing but a smear job. If you want a better sense of what the woman was about, try the 1998 documentary "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" or read any of her books. The fact that she was a WOMAN has a great deal to do with the hostility towards her exemplified by slanderous defamations like this movie. Yes "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" was written and directed by people who actually like what Ayn Rand had to say. So what! It is far more "fair" then this shrill piece of propaganda.