Rating: 
Summary: An awesome tribute to an awesome woman!
Review: Since reading THE FOUNTAINHEAD 25 years ago, I've been quite a follower of Ayn Rand and her basic philosophy. While not denying the extremism of some of her views, this film is a wonderful compilation of her life and ideas. The best parts are the excerpts from her interviews when she speaks for herself and one can see the passion, charm and complete logic with which she expresses her views. Everyone who thinks Rand was faschist, crazy or just plain wrong should see this video. It would clear up many misconceptions about her philosophy. For those who complain that it skips over some of the less savory parts of her life, i.e. her controversy with Nathaniel Brandon, let them make their own video. This documentary neither denied the controversy or their affair. I thought it was marvelously unbiased.
Rating:
Summary: Exalted and uplifting portrait of a heroine
Review: The director, Michael Paxton, has succeeded beautifully in conveying a portrait of a true heroine, writer/thinker/philosopher Ayn Rand, who was the arch-champion and defender of reason, rational egoism, individualism, capitalism--that is, man's right to exist. This film is not about her philosophy, though there are several excerpts alluding to it, but more about her life, or a bio-documentary, as it were. It is about her views of life from an early age to the day she died and how she formed her own soul. Hence the documentary's title, "Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life." It is truly uplifting and inspiring, especially in a world dominated by irrationality, mysticism, and collectivism. But remember, Ayn Rand is also here and an alternative exists. Her philosophy exists and with the existence of this film, she lives forever on celluloid. Watch it for yourselves and see what I mean. As for the reviewer from Canada, from July 26, 1999, I can't help but wonder why he gave the film only one star. The review complains only about the price of the video, but doesn't give any reasons for either liking or disliking it. Is this what reviews should be based on--price? Or the material presented in the film? I hope all who see this film will enjoy it, and if they do, will turn to Ayn Rand's writings. For fuel, read Ayn Rand. And remember, if you want her views in her own words, or anyone else's for that matter, read her work firsthand, not second or third-hand because this does not and cannot work, and fails for obvious reasons. Those who smear her or misrepresent her views(lying) are only doing themselves a disservice and those who credit them deserve them. Use your mind to conclude what you think of her views. Be an independent thinker, not a leech off of the minds of others. If you do this last you will discover that you will be learning and integrating ideas into your mind, not parroting them, as so many people do. Doing the first is knowledge; doing the second is second-hand and will just not do. It is one thing to read and integrate what a writer has written; it is a totally different thing to read, study, think and integrate what a writer has written, and then deciding whether you agree or not. I hope this film will inspire many to enter the full, sunlit universe of Ayn Rand's ideas, and further, to apply them to their own lives and achieve happiness. This film will help put you on the right track to achieving this. Good luck to you all.
Rating:
Summary: A Sense Of Life
Review: The film opens with Statue of Liberty and Sharon Gless quoting Rand's words "If a life can have a 'theme song' -- and I believe every worthwhile one has -- mine is a religion, an obsession or a mania -- or all of these -- expressed in one word: Individualism." From here the you go in to the fascinating life of Ayn Rand. This absorbing documentary lets you see how Ayn Rand came to the United States from Russia with little more then nothing, and became one of the worlds greatest novelist/philosopher to have ever lived. Interview segments with Leonard Peikoff bring out clear and rich picture of Ayn Rand to every fan of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged will enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: about as complex as a ham sandwhich
Review: The other night a friend of mine asked me to watch an Ayn Rand video with her. I remember reading "Anthem" when I was 17 (I know it's not one of her "greatest" pieces of fiction, but a friend gave it to me for free. How's that for capitalism? I hesitate to call her writing literature in the sense that Thomas Mann writes literature, but at least I've read something by her - I'd read something else if it was only properly edited). Like any youth I was engrossed with the principle of the individual versus the collective. Who isn't at that age? Plus I vaguely remember being a fan of Rush's 2112 (thankfully I have grown out of that period of pretentious prog-rock). So we threw the video into the player and watched, and watched, and watched. I kept waiting for some brilliant insight into Miss Rand's philosophical belief system. It never arrived. What we received was a two hour snore-de-force biography about Ayn's love for cinema and Hollywood, and how she wouldn't let Hollywood tame or edit her ramblings, I mean scripts. Does anybody really need to hear a six minute speech about the self? She was enthralled with spectacle. In Hollywood she saw her ideal, not man. There's a point in the video when the death of Marilyn Monroe is discussed in glorious philosophical nonsense. Quite laughable, but I think it sums up what Ayn bequeathed to the 20th Century: another dead pop icon that will some day be regurgitated as in image on the front of a t-shirt with a meaningless slogan on the back and marketed to teenagers for mere consumption. Ultimately I didn't learn anything that I hadn't already figured out about Ayn's philosophy on my own. I believe in me. How is that groundbreaking philosophy? Who doesn't believe in their own person? Stop worshipping the cult of Ayn and the objectivist rhetoric, start worshipping life, and be honest with your own being. Cheers.
Rating:
Summary: A priceless (and now affordable) and wonderful film!
Review: The price is right again! (Even the VHS copy was affordable when it first became available). As soon as I discovered that the DVD version was on the way I preordered it for a great price. It finaly arrived and I again was spellbound. On a good home entertainment system, the experience of watching this film is now even better. Yes, it does gloss over certain facets of Rand's life (i.e. Nathaniel Branden, and the fact that some people misapply her philosophy)but it succeeds in depicting the fundamental benevolent spirit that Rand, myself and others wish for everyone to have. So it definitely achieves what it set out to, and does so in a fascinating manner, recalling many aspects of Rand's life that many of her fans, much less her detractors, may never have been aware of. Kudos to Michael Paxton for creating a wonderful film!
Rating: 
Summary: Rand's belief that America should win out over Russia
Review: The three stars that I gave this DVD, a gift from a special friend, an ardent student of Miss Rand and Objectivism, does not mean that I did not enjoy this documentary tremendously. I am not the most ardent fan of Miss Rand although I greatly admire the one book of hers that I read, "The Fountainhead," for its astounding literary merits. I have started reading "Atlas Shrugged," considered her masterpiece, even better than "The Fountainhead." Indeed, I am vaguely uneasy about the "cult" of personality that developed around her, and because the documentary did not address this issue, which has fascinated me, I am giving the documentary three stars only--the HBO movie with Helen Mirren, "The Passions of Ayn Rand" was more revealing about her followers, the impact of Objectivism on its followers, and how inter-connected Rand became with some of her admirers. In other words, I do not know that much more about Miss Rand because of this documentary, but I did enjoy watching it first because it was given to me by a dear friend who admires Miss Rand, and secondly because I realized how strong one person's will can be as Rand's will was so strong that it propelled her out of one world so vastly different from the one that she ended up in. Of course I am talking about Russia as her original world and America as her new world. However, I vaguely felt that there were many pieces about her life like the Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (and any impact it may have had on today's intelligensia), which should have been addressed in the documentary. I would also have liked the documentary to reveal more about her notorious and later bitter relationship with Nathaniel Branden, with whom she carried on a love affair for many years with the consent of her loving and loyal husband Frank O'Connor, a topic that the documentary almost dodged. I also would have liked to know more about Rand's more joyful relationships with people like Leonard Peikoff, her intellectual and legal heir, and Alan Greenspan, the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S.'s central bank. But for anyone new to Rand who wants the quick and dirty (the DVD is 144 minutes however) on the chronology of her extraordinary life, this is a pleasant and well put together narrative. I did find extremely fascinating though, sort of as an after thought of the DVD, the whole parallelism I saw with Rand's life from when she was born in 1905 to when she died in 1983, with that of the struggle of America as it became the emergent leader of the free world at the end of the 20th Century. The America that Rand loved and abandoned Russia for, and which she extolled for its egoism and value of the individual will, became the triumphant "winner" in the great experiment of free market and democracy versus altruism (that of sacrificing individualism for the good of the masses), collectivism and communism. It is sad that Rand was not alive in 1989, just six years after her death, to see the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Rand would have enjoyed seeing that which she said should happen: that rationalism of man should win out over the irrationalism of man, and that rationalism is choosing that which is good for the individual, and that to her, America represented the greatest achievement of the rational man and triumph of individualism. One more thing: Rand said that the self should not exist before work. I take this to heart as I learned how disciplined she was about her writing. As an aspiring writer, I have to realize that the self should not exist, that comes later. First comes work. There can only be work. Work, work, work, she said, which means, write, write, write to me as it was to her. This, I take as a lesson, from the documentary.
Rating:
Summary: The price is too high.
Review: There are millions of Ayn Rand fans out here, waiting for the price to come down on this video. I won't pay sixty bucks when I can get it at the library for free. But I would love to own a copy at thirty bucks. Come on, folks, lower the price and cash in. Wouldn't you like about thirty million extra bucks?
Rating:
Summary: Should have won the Oscar!
Review: This documentary of Novelist/Philosopher Ayn Rand is an inspiring portrayal of a unique and interesting individual. From her birth in pre-communist Russia to her years as best-selling author and world-changing philosopher, this movie captures the spirit and passion of a true genius. Ayn Rand lovers will find that watching this movie is an emotional experience. It is a rare and sacred priviledge to be able to glimpse the behind the scenes life of one of the greatest figures in world history. I personally came away with a deep sense of gratitude to the creators of "A Sense of Life" for providing this opportunity to gain a better understanding about what her life was about. Don't bother renting it. Save some money and BUY IT! You'll be watching it over and over.
Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant advocate of individualism
Review: This is an entertaining and very thorough, though one-sided, look at the life of Ayn Rand, one of the most controversial philosophers of recent times. The fact that many in academia would not deign to call her a "philosopher" at all is due more to ideological bias and her uncompromising nature than to any defect in her thinking or writing. Ayn Rand was a Russian immigrant who loved the idea of America from an early age. In America, and in New York City in particular, she saw the highest culmination of man's achievement. In her view, only a completely free capitalist economic system allows human beings to express their true nature and reach their full potential. This philosophy was later adapted by the modern libertarian movement (which Rand herself quickly disassociated herself from for various personal and ideological reasons). This documentary does a very good job at showing Rand's life in a way she herself would have appreciated (she died some twenty years before the film was made). This, of course, can be considered a defect. There is scarcely one dissenting voice in the film, with the exception of Phil Donahue, who interviewed Rand several times. Leonard Peikoff, called Ayn Rand's "intellectual heir," does not seem to disagree one iota with anything his teacher ever said. The paradox about Ayn Rand and the movement she started, called Objectivism, is that despite its strict adherence to reason and individualism, it had some definite cultlike characteristics. Followers imitated Rand down to the smallest mannerism; for example, it was virtually mandatory to smoke cigarettes as Rand considered this a powerful symbol of man conquering fire (this detail is not in the film). Rand's dogmatism inevitably comes through in the film, but it is mainly presented as the virtue of one who refuses to comprise, like Howard Roark, John Galt and the other heroes of her novels. There was definitely a less noble aspect to her personality, which is not dealt with in the documentary. Her affair with Nathaniel Branden is briefly, and rather clumsily alluded to. Nathaniel Branden, his wife Barbara (both who have written books about Ayn Rand) had a complex relationship with Ayn Rand (and her husband Frank O'Connor, who seems to have mainly taken a back seat in the events of her life). The film implies that the unpleasant ending of Rand's relationship with Branden was due to some shortcoming on his part. There are, of course, other versions of this story. One fact, again not mentioned in the film, is that Rand and her closest followers denounced Branden (who is himself the author of several influential books on psychology) very viciously, treating him very much like someone who has abandoned a cult. It may very well be, however, that Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life is a better film for focusing on the positive traits of its subject's life. After all, many brilliant artists and intellectuals have been difficult personalities in their everyday lives. Ayn Rand's arrogance, dogmatism and intolerance of dissent does not explain or justify the contempt with which she has been treated by the mainstream media and academic establishment. It seems that she was a spokesperson for an idea that will never be intellectually respectable -that the individual, not God, society or the state is of primary importance. I would highly recommend this film to anyone interested in the life of this extraordinary woman. Those not familiar with her may want to read her novels, especially The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged first.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasant surprise
Review: This is definitely worth viewing for its detailed account of her early days and for the great clips of her on TV interviews. I originally read Atlas Shrugged in 1988 and I had never seen her on tape or even heard her voice, except a clip off the internet of her saying: "Check your premises." So for that I was rather pleased with this movie. But of course it's biggest flaw is that for a Objectivist there is nothing remotely controversial in this movie about her character or behavior. Nathaniel Brandon is glossed over and quickly dismissed. I'm not suggesting the movie should have been taudy in that regard, but it surely could have made more clear how long he was with her and how much he meant to her. And it could have at least mentioned her irrational behavior following all of that. But then I was surprised Leonard Peikoff even acknowledged the affair. No mention is made either of how hard it was for Frank O'Connor to leave California and move to New York, nor is any mention made of his increased drinking. Reality might have been of utmost importance to Ayn Rand, but then the mind has a way of seeing the reality one only wants to see, and she was no different. And these filmmakers didn't want to upset Leonard Peikoff and the rest of her Objectivist heirs. Still if you're interested in Any Rand, I highly recommend Sense of Life. She was a remarkable human being, and God bless her.
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