A new movie is debuting tonight at more than 900 select theaters nationwide, and local philanthropist Robert Kirkland hopes you’ll go see it.
“Atlas Shrugged II” is the sequel to “Atlas Shrugged,” both of which are based on Ayn Rand’s epic 1957 novel by the same name.
Kirkland is one of the producers of the new movie and is encouraging others to go out and experience the film.
The closest theaters currently showing the movie are in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Carbondale, Ill., Memphis, Bartlett, Cordova and Collierville.
The movie tells the story of what happens when the producers in society reach that breaking point. Political insiders and crony capitalists demonize achievement and success, and demand everyone sacrifice individual liberty “in the public interest,” according to an email sent out by the Obion County Chamber of Commerce.
“Atlas Shrugged II” actually debuted in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
According to the movie’s website, the synopsis of “Atlas Shrugged” involves a global economy on the brink of collapse, a 24 percent unemployment rate, $42 per gallon gas and “brilliant creators, from artists to industrialists, continue to mysteriously disappear at the hands of the unknown.”
“Dagny Taggart, Vice President in Charge of Operations for Taggart Transcontinental, has discovered what may very well be the answer to a mounting energy crisis — found abandoned amongst the ruins of a once productive factory, a revolutionary motor that could seemingly power the World,” the website states. “But, the motor is dead... there is no one left to decipher its secret... and, someone is watching. It’s a race against the clock to find the inventor before the motor of the World is stopped for good.”
The movie is directed by John Putch and features Samantha Mathis, Jason Beghe and Patrick Fabien in lead roles.
David Kelley was one of those who attended the movie’s world premiere in the nation’s capital, and he had this to say about the movie, “’Atlas Shrugged’ was Ayn Rand’s love letter to America, and to the American spirit. But it was also a prophetic warning of how altruism would undermine capitalism.”
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Ms. Rand was 12-years-old when Lenin took power and so she fled to America and Hollywood. She became one of the best-selling novelists of her time and “Atlas Shrugged” was her fourth and final novel.
There has been a significant amount of interest in the movie generated by such social media websites as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Published in The Messenger 10.12.12