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Plot |
John Galt (Kristoffer Polaha) is an employee of a company that has made it a practice to pool everyone’s earnings and then pay it workers based on their needs. Not agreeing to this system of payment John Galt leaves in protest declaring that he is going to put an end to this madness. When we catch up with him again he is part of a protected community where everyone pays their own way. Businessmen and inventors from all over the country have gathered to share their hard work without the complications of governmental red tape and regulations. No longer are their freedoms violated and they don’t have to worry about not following their conscience. This has an adverse reaction to the rest of the country when all these wonderful people left their absence created a great void that could not be filled leaving system after system inside America steadily falling apart and continued civil unrest mushrooming up afterward that could not be restored, even with massive forced intervention by the government. Elsewhere in the story Dagny Taggart (Laura Regan) is able to break through the protective layer of John Galt’s community and for a few days spend some time with him and the people there. John asks her to stay, but upon hearing the horror the country has become she vows to save it. |
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Character Development |
In this film the plot is more important than the character development. All the characters are pretty much set in stone, living out their lives in a preprogramed way. They have their parts and their speeches and much of the antagonists are downright black and white in nuance. The only one who seems to have any freewill is Dagny Taggart. She comes in as the fish out of water in John’s world and must make her decisions in the end. |
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Acting |
Solid acting all around, there were plenty of shades of darkness with the antagonists even though they were a little monotone. The arguments the movie made were a little one-sided, but the John Galt character was right on message and very persuasive. Yet the acting was in no way extra special. There weren’t any stellar moments to speak of, only there was nothing off putting either. All the actors hit their marks and read their lines with good delivery. |
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Overview |
Everything seems to come together. I really think I have seen a finished product here with the ending. Not to give the ending away but there is one moment that doesn’t make sense during the closing that could only be left in for dramatic effect and the payoff is huge. This is obvious a message movie and as a message movie I don’t think you can challenge it like other message movies because this is in story form and not a documentary where you can break it apart and dispute the facts. This picture was a vision and a philosophy and being a drama it is harder to deconstruct. Now the shoe is on the other foot. |
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