Reagan

NOW IN THEATERS! Love him or hate him, in Sean McNamara’s biopic, Reagan, we delve into the life of one of the most influential Presidents of the last century, Ronald Reagan.

Weirdly enough, the story of Ronald Reagan (Dennis Quaid) is told through the eyes of former KGB spy Viktor Petrovich (Jon Voight), who is being questioned for being the only person in the world who could have prevented the Soviet Union from falling. Through Petrovich’s gathered intelligence, we follow the exploits of a young Dutch Reagan as his morals and values are formed by a strong Christian mother in his youth and as a summer lifeguard in his hometown.

Soon, actor Ronald Reagan found his acting career waning, leading him to become the Vice President of the Screen Actors Guild, much to the dismay of his then-wife Jane Wyman (Mena Suvari), who would leave him to win a couple of Oscars. As President of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan would go toe-to-toe with Union Uber boss Herb Sorrell, preventing SAG from succumbing to the Communists’ attempt to unite all unions in America.

Emboldened by the American spirit and the support of his new wife, Nancy Davis (Penelope Ann Miller), Reagan decides to support a losing cause in Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater and, in turn, become the Governor of California. After successfully standing up against more Communism and the hippie movement, Reagan would have his sights set on the presidency in a losing battle against Gerald Ford.

“…we follow the exploits of a young Dutch Reagan as his morals and values are formed…”

So, full disclosure: growing up as a teen and college student, I was a Reagan Republican. So yes, I’ve got a case of rose-colored glasses with Reagan. And yes, I thoroughly loved this movie. Mostly because I lived through the Regan presidency, from the Iran Hostage Crisis to the Cold War, secretly fought against Russia. I lived through the threat of a nuclear holocaust, then through the Iran-Contra Affair, and finally to the Presidential-defining moment of the infamous “Mr. Gorbachev…tear down this wall” speech. I lived through it, and now I know what Reagan was going through when it all happened.

Reagan will be accused of being overly pro-Reagan, and the film is. At the same time, though, we see Reagan the man—the man who stood by his morals in every decision he made and stood by his Christian values of treating your neighbor as yourself, as evidenced by his enduring friendship with political enemies Speak Tip O’Neill and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

As a film, Reagan is about as perfect a biopic as you will get. The story flows quickly and feels cinematic for a man whose life plays out like a movie. Dennis Quaid nails down Ronald Reagan’s voice and mannerisms to the point that I thought I was seeing Reagan himself. Quaid plays him as a strong man who loved his country and loved his wife even more.

The film uses a lot of news footage from the 1980s to lend authenticity to the tale, including footage from Reagan’s assassination attempt, his debate with Walter Mondale, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Speaking of the Berlin Wall, the speech as performed by Dennis Quaid takes on a whole new meaning placed in the context of Reagan’s life and presidential battle to not be impeached and not plunge America into a nuclear war.

Whether you liked Reagan or not, you must come to grips with the fact that the man tried to lead a united nation split by politics. His greatest strength was his ability to cross the aisle and pass laws, considering he was a Republican President working with a Democratic Congress. Indeed, we are so divided that this could not happen again.