Ayn Rand - A Sense of Life (Director's Vision Edition)
Starring:Sharon Gless, Michael S. Berliner, Harry Binswanger, Sylvia Bokor, Daniel E. Greene, Cynthia Peikoff, Leonard Peikoff, Al Ramrus, John Ridpath, Mike Wallace, Janne Peters, Peter Sands, Neil Armstrong, Tsar Nicholas II, V.I. Lenin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Tom Snyder, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Ayn Rand, Robert Taylor
Director: Michael Paxton
Studio: Strand Home Video
Product Type: DVD
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Perhaps the most widely read philosopher of the 20th century, Ayn Rand has delighted and infuriated people of all ideologies and, like it or not, has helped to create the political realities we deal with every day. With Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life you can follow her life story, from her childhood in the turbulent years of revolution in her native Russia to her great success as a popular writer and deep thinker in the United States. This comprehensive look at a fascinating woman uses interviews with friends and colleagues, family photos, clips of her speaking, and great moments from the films she wrote to portray a complex, passionate person with the brains to articulate her ideals and the guts to stand up for them. Trying to get work in 1930s Hollywood wasn't easy for such a rabid anti-Communist, but Rand persisted and the tales of her life in the theater, her lifelong relationship with actor Frank O'Connor, and her midlife career change from novelist to political philosopher are both inspiring and dramatic, just as she'd want them to be. --Rob Lightner
Average customer rating:
- only source on the dvd
- Rave review for Rand doc
- A tribute to Ayn Rand by her fans.
- Good biography of a unique writer and philosopher
- A worthwhile look at the life and times of Ayn Rand
|
Ayn Rand - A Sense of Life (Director's Vision Edition)
Starring: Sharon Gless , Michael S. Berliner , Harry Binswanger , Sylvia Bokor , and Daniel E. Greene
Director: Michael Paxton
Manufacturer: Strand Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
 Biography
| Documentary
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Documentary
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Gless, Sharon
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Menjou, Adolphe
| ( M )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Monroe, Marilyn
| ( M )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Used DVDs
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
| Documentary
| Drama
| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
| Horror
| Kids & Family
| Military & War
| Music Video & Concerts
| Musicals & Performing Arts
| Mystery & Suspense
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Special Interests
| Sports
| Television
| Westerns
( A )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- The Fountainhead
- The Passion of Ayn Rand
- Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q & A
- The Virtue of Selfishness
- Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
ASIN: B0002Q9VQ6
Release Date: 2004-08-17 |
Amazon.com
Perhaps the most widely read philosopher of the 20th century, Ayn Rand has delighted and infuriated people of all ideologies and, like it or not, has helped to create the political realities we deal with every day. With Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life you can follow her life story, from her childhood in the turbulent years of revolution in her native Russia to her great success as a popular writer and deep thinker in the United States. This comprehensive look at a fascinating woman uses interviews with friends and colleagues, family photos, clips of her speaking, and great moments from the films she wrote to portray a complex, passionate person with the brains to articulate her ideals and the guts to stand up for them. Trying to get work in 1930s Hollywood wasn't easy for such a rabid anti-Communist, but Rand persisted and the tales of her life in the theater, her lifelong relationship with actor Frank O'Connor, and her midlife career change from novelist to political philosopher are both inspiring and dramatic, just as she'd want them to be. --Rob Lightner
Customer Reviews:
only source on the dvd.......2007-07-04
This is not a movie. It is a documentary. You can see Ayn Rand from live tv apperances. I highly recommend this to people who have already read the atlas and the met the howard roark. Otherwise you will get something but not the most of it. It is hard to watch at one time, someparts are boring, but it is nice see her in the screen...
Rave review for Rand doc.......2006-07-21
This is a great documentary to view regardless of your view of Ayn Rand and Objectivism. If you happen to be reasonable enough to see the incredible value of her life then this will bring even greater enjoyment to you.
A tribute to Ayn Rand by her fans........2006-06-16
A documentary about Ayn Rand should be interesting to watch whether you agree with all or some of her philosophy or not. The problem with "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" is that it is a tribute to her rather than a biography. It does tell the story of her life, but it does it in a way that seems aimed at her fans and followers rather than to the general public. The film seems to preach what a perfect person Rand was, and imply that those who criticize her are ignorant. Everything about Russia is bad, everything about America is good (are there no other countries in the world, by the way?). This oversimplified worldview - as well as the film's tendencies to get sentimental - hurts the credibility of the movie.
The running time is almost two and a half hours and it should have been shorter. Early on in the movie, there's a sequence of footage from silent films that Rand liked to watch as a child, and later there are some details that are just not very interesting, such as the one that she had to move because she had a cat, and that she was excited to get the chance to drive a train when researching a book. If some of these things were taken out the film would have been better paced. Although it's fun to see talk show footage of Rand, it can get a bit repetitive.
Overall, this film is somewhat interesting to watch if you take it for what it is - a tribute made by her fans. A film on this subject could have been much better though.
Good biography of a unique writer and philosopher.......2006-05-05
I've been interested in Ayn Rand ever since I read "Atlas Shrugged" when I was only 22 years old. I didn't quite get everything Ayn was trying to say in that book at the time, and I chalked it up to my lack of life experience given my youth. When I was 40, I ran across this documentary on public TV. I figured that since 18 years had passed, watching this documentary combined with my maturity would enable me to understand Ayn Rand.
This biography is a very sanitized version of Ayn Rand's life. The biography is accurate if not complete, since there is a lack of balance in the presentation due to the absence of information that shows the flawed and even somewhat "kookie" facets of the woman. For example, she encouraged her followers to smoke to highlight mankind's dominance over fire. The film also makes out her relationship with her husband, Frank, to be an ideal romance that lasted for decades. In fact, Ayn cheated on Frank for years with colleague Nathaniel Branden. To give her credit, she was true to her philosophy in being "objective" about the affair in the sense that she insisted that both her and Branden's spouse know what was going on. She ceased being objective, though, when Branden tired of her and began having an affair with a younger woman. She threw Branden and his research out the door with all of the emotion of any human being whose heart was being "subjectively" stomped on. I bring these points up not for the purpose of character assassination. Instead, I think that that it is difficult to get a balanced view of someone whose life work was pronouncing how life should be lived without examining the both the flaws and triumphs in that person's own life.
The documentary did give me some insight into Ayn Rand's philosophy, though, and I'll have to say that she seems to be someone who threw the baby out with the bath water at every turn. As a youth in Russia, prior to the Russian revolution, she saw the failure of the Russian orthodox church to connect with the parishioners and help their lives in any way. This caused her to become an atheist without causing her to explore if it was in fact that this particular institution of religion was the failure, rather than the concept of God. After the revolution she saw the utter failure of the policies of Communism, and this caused her to believe that pure unadulterated capitalism is the only economic system that works, not bothering to realize that there might be a third way that looks out for society's weaker members while also rewarding enterprise and hard work.
The fact that Ayn was what is an "odd bird" in 21st century America - an atheist capitalist - can only make me wonder what she would have to say about today's situation of fundamentalist Christian dogma intertwined with cut-throat capitalism that has become today's Republican party. I can't imagine she'd have anything good to say about it, and on that we would be in agreement.
Thus, if you are interested in learning the main points about Ayn Rand's life, this is a good source for the facts and even some insights - particularly good are the clips from her appearances on the Donahue show shortly before her death. However, realize that this biography is somewhat sanitized.
A worthwhile look at the life and times of Ayn Rand.......2006-01-21
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life is a positive look at the life of author-philosopher Ayn Rand and was obviously lovingly made by people who have read her novels and were part of her inner circle of friends. No matter where you find yourself in the political spectrum, Ayn Rand's viewpoints have probably touched you, directly or indirectly, through the power of her ideas and her philosophy of Objectivism, which has gained a firm foothold among libertarians and individualists. Objectivists are now fairly easy to find anywhere you go.
This movie is of interest to anyone who has explored one of her novels. If you have an interest in collectivism and how it can shape people, this is also a good movie to watch. Rand's life was full of highs and lows, personal tragedies and lofty achievements. It is worth examining. A Sense of Life is a positive portrait of her as a human being, and glosses over her personal flaws. And that is OK with me, because from my perspective, Ayn's life had a far more positive impact on humanity as a whole than her personal flaws had a negative impact on her inner circle.
Lives ripple outward, and Ayn Rand's body of work has touched millions of people. Whether you agree or disagree with her worldview, A Sense of Life celebrates Rand and her important ideas. If you've made it through Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead, and found anything in them that left you spellbound or wide eyed, then this biography will likely hold your interest. A Sense of Life may not be the perfect biographical movie, but it's a good examination of a life worth examining.
Average customer rating:
- only source on the dvd
- Rave review for Rand doc
- A tribute to Ayn Rand by her fans.
- Good biography of a unique writer and philosopher
- A worthwhile look at the life and times of Ayn Rand
|
Ayn Rand - A Sense of Life
Starring: Sharon Gless , Michael S. Berliner , Harry Binswanger , Sylvia Bokor , and Daniel E. Greene
Director: Michael Paxton
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Biography
| Documentary
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Documentary
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Gless, Sharon
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Menjou, Adolphe
| ( M )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Monroe, Marilyn
| ( M )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Used DVDs
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
| Documentary
| Drama
| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
| Horror
| Kids & Family
| Military & War
| Music Video & Concerts
| Musicals & Performing Arts
| Mystery & Suspense
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Special Interests
| Sports
| Television
| Westerns
( A )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- The Fountainhead
- The Passion of Ayn Rand
- Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q & A
- The Virtue of Selfishness
- Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
ASIN: 6305609241
Release Date: 1999-10-19 |
Amazon.com
Perhaps the most widely read philosopher of the 20th century, Ayn Rand has delighted and infuriated people of all ideologies and, like it or not, has helped to create the political realities we deal with every day. With Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life you can follow her life story, from her childhood in the turbulent years of revolution in her native Russia to her great success as a popular writer and deep thinker in the United States. This comprehensive look at a fascinating woman uses interviews with friends and colleagues, family photos, clips of her speaking, and great moments from the films she wrote to portray a complex, passionate person with the brains to articulate her ideals and the guts to stand up for them. Trying to get work in 1930s Hollywood wasn't easy for such a rabid anti-Communist, but Rand persisted and the tales of her life in the theater, her lifelong relationship with actor Frank O'Connor, and her midlife career change from novelist to political philosopher are both inspiring and dramatic, just as she'd want them to be. --Rob Lightner
Description
A 1998 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature. The first authorized film to look at the life and work of the controversial Russian-born author, writer of such renowned novels as "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged." Written, produced and directed by first-time helmer Michael Paxton, "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" is a flux of events, ideas, emotions and accomplishments--all combining to create a portrait of one woman's genius and point of view. Narrated by Emmy Award-winning actress Sharon Gless.
Customer Reviews:
only source on the dvd.......2007-07-04
This is not a movie. It is a documentary. You can see Ayn Rand from live tv apperances. I highly recommend this to people who have already read the atlas and the met the howard roark. Otherwise you will get something but not the most of it. It is hard to watch at one time, someparts are boring, but it is nice see her in the screen...
Rave review for Rand doc.......2006-07-21
This is a great documentary to view regardless of your view of Ayn Rand and Objectivism. If you happen to be reasonable enough to see the incredible value of her life then this will bring even greater enjoyment to you.
A tribute to Ayn Rand by her fans........2006-06-16
A documentary about Ayn Rand should be interesting to watch whether you agree with all or some of her philosophy or not. The problem with "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" is that it is a tribute to her rather than a biography. It does tell the story of her life, but it does it in a way that seems aimed at her fans and followers rather than to the general public. The film seems to preach what a perfect person Rand was, and imply that those who criticize her are ignorant. Everything about Russia is bad, everything about America is good (are there no other countries in the world, by the way?). This oversimplified worldview - as well as the film's tendencies to get sentimental - hurts the credibility of the movie.
The running time is almost two and a half hours and it should have been shorter. Early on in the movie, there's a sequence of footage from silent films that Rand liked to watch as a child, and later there are some details that are just not very interesting, such as the one that she had to move because she had a cat, and that she was excited to get the chance to drive a train when researching a book. If some of these things were taken out the film would have been better paced. Although it's fun to see talk show footage of Rand, it can get a bit repetitive.
Overall, this film is somewhat interesting to watch if you take it for what it is - a tribute made by her fans. A film on this subject could have been much better though.
Good biography of a unique writer and philosopher.......2006-05-05
I've been interested in Ayn Rand ever since I read "Atlas Shrugged" when I was only 22 years old. I didn't quite get everything Ayn was trying to say in that book at the time, and I chalked it up to my lack of life experience given my youth. When I was 40, I ran across this documentary on public TV. I figured that since 18 years had passed, watching this documentary combined with my maturity would enable me to understand Ayn Rand.
This biography is a very sanitized version of Ayn Rand's life. The biography is accurate if not complete, since there is a lack of balance in the presentation due to the absence of information that shows the flawed and even somewhat "kookie" facets of the woman. For example, she encouraged her followers to smoke to highlight mankind's dominance over fire. The film also makes out her relationship with her husband, Frank, to be an ideal romance that lasted for decades. In fact, Ayn cheated on Frank for years with colleague Nathaniel Branden. To give her credit, she was true to her philosophy in being "objective" about the affair in the sense that she insisted that both her and Branden's spouse know what was going on. She ceased being objective, though, when Branden tired of her and began having an affair with a younger woman. She threw Branden and his research out the door with all of the emotion of any human being whose heart was being "subjectively" stomped on. I bring these points up not for the purpose of character assassination. Instead, I think that that it is difficult to get a balanced view of someone whose life work was pronouncing how life should be lived without examining the both the flaws and triumphs in that person's own life.
The documentary did give me some insight into Ayn Rand's philosophy, though, and I'll have to say that she seems to be someone who threw the baby out with the bath water at every turn. As a youth in Russia, prior to the Russian revolution, she saw the failure of the Russian orthodox church to connect with the parishioners and help their lives in any way. This caused her to become an atheist without causing her to explore if it was in fact that this particular institution of religion was the failure, rather than the concept of God. After the revolution she saw the utter failure of the policies of Communism, and this caused her to believe that pure unadulterated capitalism is the only economic system that works, not bothering to realize that there might be a third way that looks out for society's weaker members while also rewarding enterprise and hard work.
The fact that Ayn was what is an "odd bird" in 21st century America - an atheist capitalist - can only make me wonder what she would have to say about today's situation of fundamentalist Christian dogma intertwined with cut-throat capitalism that has become today's Republican party. I can't imagine she'd have anything good to say about it, and on that we would be in agreement.
Thus, if you are interested in learning the main points about Ayn Rand's life, this is a good source for the facts and even some insights - particularly good are the clips from her appearances on the Donahue show shortly before her death. However, realize that this biography is somewhat sanitized.
A worthwhile look at the life and times of Ayn Rand.......2006-01-21
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life is a positive look at the life of author-philosopher Ayn Rand and was obviously lovingly made by people who have read her novels and were part of her inner circle of friends. No matter where you find yourself in the political spectrum, Ayn Rand's viewpoints have probably touched you, directly or indirectly, through the power of her ideas and her philosophy of Objectivism, which has gained a firm foothold among libertarians and individualists. Objectivists are now fairly easy to find anywhere you go.
This movie is of interest to anyone who has explored one of her novels. If you have an interest in collectivism and how it can shape people, this is also a good movie to watch. Rand's life was full of highs and lows, personal tragedies and lofty achievements. It is worth examining. A Sense of Life is a positive portrait of her as a human being, and glosses over her personal flaws. And that is OK with me, because from my perspective, Ayn's life had a far more positive impact on humanity as a whole than her personal flaws had a negative impact on her inner circle.
Lives ripple outward, and Ayn Rand's body of work has touched millions of people. Whether you agree or disagree with her worldview, A Sense of Life celebrates Rand and her important ideas. If you've made it through Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead, and found anything in them that left you spellbound or wide eyed, then this biography will likely hold your interest. A Sense of Life may not be the perfect biographical movie, but it's a good examination of a life worth examining.
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