One Mans Opinion 4/18/2011
By Dewaine Shoulders

Who is John Galt?

Well, if you have ever read Ayn Rand's 1957 novel 'Atlas Shrugged' then you'd know. And if you have yet to see the new movie, then I suggest you do so.

I went to see the film on Sunday afternoon. There were only a few people in the theater but they, like I, were ready to see the movie.

Atlas Shrugged, starring Taylor Schilling as Dagny Taggart and Grant Bowler as Henry Rearden, was made for around $10 million dollars. Even though that's a small amount of money compared to other Hollywood mega-budget movies, Atlas Shrugged is actually visually stylish, and the cast is a perfect blend of capable actors that brings the story to life. There was no need to throw millions into special effects. It's a very interesting story of business economics and political backdoor wheeling and dealing, with a dose of philosophical debate thrown in for good measure. The pace of the movie is fast enough to keep you interested and at the same time it moves slow enough to keep you up with the changes going on.

I'll not give too much away, but Part 1 of the Trilogy (Atlas Shrugged is an 1,183 page book, thus it's being told in three parts) centers around 2016 America. The nation is having an economic crisis (sound familiar?) with the Dow around 4,000 points and gas around $37.50 a gallon.

Enter plotting and planning by politicians, union thugs and other self-centered businessmen, creating an environment in which doing normal business is next to impossible, then you throw in some interesting notions of metaphysics, sex and  the mystery of John Galt, and you have the perfect storm in which Taggart and Rearden must travel through in order to achieve the impossible.

Now, since most of the critics (all liberals mind you) have panned this movie, that means it hits the mark dead-on! The liberals and the elites will call this movie anything but good, but I can tell you that it is. Watching this movie, I could see stark contrasts to today's American business climate and political theater, and the real-world events that are currently taking place. I could imagine this movie actually taking place in the not-so-distant future. And I believe you would see it as well.

I am encouraging everyone who has yet to see it to do so. It will make you think and it will make you understand what uncontrolled big-government can and will do if left unchecked. And what we are currently seeing from our government, this movie is not that far from being truth instead of fiction.

But that's just my opinion, I could be right!

One Mans Opinion can be heard Monday thru Thursday nights at 9:30 p.m. / 8:30 p.m. Central on TalkShoe. http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/95816