Difference between revisions of "Atlas Shrugged, Part 1"

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Atlas Shrugged, Part 1
Official poster
Directed by	Paul Johansson
Produced by	Howard Baldwin (executive), Harmon Kaslow, John Aglialoro
Written by	Ayn Rand (novel), John Aglialoro and Brian Patrick O'Toole (screenplay)
Starring	Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler, Matthew Marsden, Michael Lerner, Jon Polito, Edi Gathegi, Jsu Garcia, Graham Beckel, and Paul Johansson
Music by	Elia Cmiral
Cinematography	Ross Berryman
Editing by	Jim Flynn, Sherril Schlessinger
Distributed by	Rocky Mountain Pictures (in theaters), Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (DVD and Blu-ray)
Release date(s)	April 15, 2011
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6.5 million (est.)
Gross revenue	$4,563,873 (as of May 15, 2011)
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 is a 2011 motion picture adaptation of the first third of Ayn Rand's novel of the same name. Instead of setting the film in the period of the original novel, this film sets it in an America of 2016, after five more years of the administration of Barack H. Obama (presumably to be renamed Mr. Thompson). This film demonstrates the predictive value of Atlas Shrugged as prophecy, in that its opening scenes include uncanny accurate depictions of actual events that took place six months after the film's theatrical release.

Plot Summary

In 2016, the United States of America has followed a nearly inexorable economic decline. With all oil imports cut off, Americans have abandoned airline travel and rediscovered the railroads for the carrying of passengers and freight. The Taggart Transcontinental Railroad has re-established its old passenger services, but much of its track is in shocking disrepair, this although James Taggart, President of the TTRR, has insisted on laying rail to Mexico (now called the People's State of Mexico) to take advantage of the latest mining project of the famous Argentine copper magnate (and incorrigible Latin playboy), Francisco d'Anconia. And while James Taggart insists on trading favors in Washington, DC, his sister Dagny insists on running a railroad the old-fashioned way: by working hard to deliver good service.

Accordingly, she places an order for new rail from the Rearden Steel Company, headed (and wholly owned) by Henry Rearden, one of the few men left in the world who believes in an honest day's work. Another such person is Ellis Wyatt, a former customer of the TTRR whom Dagny is determined to win back.

While Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden strive to build a showcase project, in the original "can-do" American spirit, James Taggart continues to play political games. Unfortunately for Jim, and a complete mystery to Dagny, Francisco d'Anconia is playing games of his own: driving mines that he knows are worthless, knowing that the Mexican government will nationalize them (which it does), and taking pleasure in seeing Jim and his friends lose their shirts by betting on his business acumen, which he does not care to exercise any longer.

And unknown to almost all of them, a mysterious interloper, calling himself John Galt, is enticing the most productive people left in America to go on strike...

Cast of Characters

• Matthew Marsden as James Taggart, President, Taggart Transcontinental Railroad

• Taylor Schilling as Dagny Taggart, his sister and Vice-President in Charge of Operations

• Edi Gathegi as Eddie Willers, her special assistant
• Ethan Cohn as Owen Kellogg, an able manager who quits the TTRR and says, "Who is John Galt" by way of explanation

• Grant Bowler as Henry Rearden, founder, owner, and President of Rearden Steel

• Christina Pickes as his mother
• Rebecca Wisocky as Lillian Rearden, his unloving wife
• Neill Barry as Philip Rearden, his ne'er-do-well brother
• Patrick Fischler as Paul Larkin, a not-quite-friend of Rearden

• Michael Lerner as Wesley Mouch, Co-ordinator, Bureau of Economic Planning and Natural Resources

• Jon Polito as Orren Boyle, President, Associated Steel Company

• Navid Nagahban as Robert Stadler, PhD, Director, State Science Institute

• Armin Shimerman as Dr. Potter, a subordinate of his

• Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt, founder, owner and President of Wyatt Oil

• Geoff Pierson as Midas Mulligan, founder, owner and President of the Mulligan Bank

• Jsu Garcia as Francisco d'Anconia, heir and President, D'Anconia Copper, SA (Argentina)

• Paul Johansson as John Galt

Motivations of the characters

Dagny Taggart obviously wants to save her railroad from financial ruin. The only way to do that, as she sees it, is to restore the quality service that the Taggart name once stood for, and win back customers who have gone elsewhere.

James Taggart wants to trade government favors to save himself the necessity of effort. He couches his motives in altruistic terms, the sincerity of which is unproved at best.

Henry Rearden wants to make money, and is not afraid to say it. But his troubled home life puzzles him. He allows his ungrateful relatives to hang onto him—and then Francisco d'Anconia decides that he wants to know why.

But what game is d'Anconia playing? Why does he deliberately make a thoroughly bad business mistake, just to deliver a sucker punch to politically minded men like Jim Taggart?

John Galt's motives remain the deepest mystery of all. But by film's end, we know his purpose: the complete and utter destruction of American society, or rather the quasi-socialistic state that America has now become, and the supplanting of it with a new civic, economic, and social order. Its name is Atlantis, a name that translates as "that which belongs to Atlas."