https://www.christianpost.com/voices/reagan-moviea-great-reminder-of-what-a-president-should-be.html
The myths and legends were emerging even before his death in 2004. Now twenty years later they've blossomed into full-blown fantasy. This latest film (praised by Richard Land) is undoubtedly an exercise in both hagiography and revisionism.
Grove City's Kengor has played a role in perpetuating the myths about Reagan, John Paul II, and Thatcher. As a Roman Catholic, Kengor has an interest in this narrative even if it is (at best) a gross oversimplification. Thirty-five years after the Berlin Wall came down I remain somewhat amazed at how little understanding there is about the end of the Cold War and its aftermath.
Episodes like Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate calling on Gorbachev to tear down the wall have become mythic in the American consciousness - but were somewhat absurd at the time. Right-wing revisionists have erased the history regarding opposition to Reagan by his own party and many who viewed his rapprochement with Gorbachev with alarm. There was talk of his incompetence and senility even then. All that's forgotten now and you can count on sell-out Church leaders like Richard Land to sell the myth. That's why he endorses ridiculous films like this - a B-grade movie starring Hollywood burnouts.
Dennis Quaid's career has been in decline since the 1990's at least and he has now found a niche in the Christian movie industry. John Voight champions Right-wing politics and would have been happy to have a role. At 85, this may be his swan song. And Penelope Ann Miller was something of a bombshell in the 1980's and 1990's but her career has been in decline since the 2000's. Did Hollywood reject this movie because of the subject matter? Not at all. It's a B-movie because it's obviously low-quality and not taken seriously with a B-grade director and production connected to the Christian film industry - which is not known for producing quality films.
The movie was panned by critics because it's clearly a bad movie and a waste of time.
For my part my interest lies in the fact that it's based on the work of Kengor - someone revered in Christian circles and being promoted by Richard Land. These facts alone tell me a lot about it and remove any interest in wasting a couple of hours time on it.
I am unsure as to how accurately the movie reflects the work of Kengor but I am highly sceptical and suspicious of everything from his framing to his conclusions. It's because of professors like Kengor that I wouldn't want my kids to attend a school like Grove City.
The review-links are worth reading and provide food for thought for those that would see the movie anyway. Read them and then read the drivel produced by Land - the supposed Christian thinker.
Reagan was not a decent man and it's worth noting that I honestly don't think Land would understand what decency is. Reading his article I immediately thought about the Contras and the Reagan doctrine across not just Latin America but Africa. It was a deceitful bloodbath. I thought about his role in Operation Condor and much more. The story of his shift in thinking about nuclear weapons is startling because it reveals how little he understood things - and this man almost drove the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1983. He was full of bombast but lacked both wisdom and substance.
Those who knew him during his administration noted his cognitive decline, his ignorance, and his laziness.
And yet in 2024 I think about the role his presidency played in the destruction of the middle class and American industry and how in many ways he planted the seeds for Trumpism that would emerge a generation later. His revived nationalism made people feel good after the malaise of the 1970's, but such pride is nothing Christians should celebrate and again, he stirred passions that bore awful fruit in the 1990's and beyond.
To this day Iran-Contra is not understood and it baffles me that Oliver North has become a hero in Christian circles. The episode was far worse than Watergate and should have resulted in his impeachment and the destruction of his legacy.
I grew up revering leaders like Goldwater and Reagan. My father was a huge supporter and volunteered for his 1980 campaign. I remember it well and treasured the signed Reagan-Bush photograph he received (stamped, not actually signed of course). I hung it on my wall.
But then I grew up and upon conversion started reading my Bible and history anew and started to understand what the period represented. I realized that it wasn't just the Soviet Union that was an evil empire. Why couldn't Christians see this? Why were these ugly chapters covered up? I praise God that even though I had been brainwashed about Reagan the episode in my life offered a stark contrast to my renewed mind post-conversion. I was able to question everything anew and it disturbed me to no end to see how I had been misled (even into joining the military) and how the American Church and Evangelicalism have played (and continue to play) a significant role in the spread of falsehood. That's a problem - a huge problem.
I've told the story before but I am so thankful that I was in that Washington DC hotel that day in the mid-1980's when Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire arrived and I got to see his entourage, and well do I remember the vitriol expressed by our Liberian cab driver. That stayed with me and a decade later the episode drove me to look into Reagan's Africa policy and it opened some rather dark chapters of history connected to him and think-tanks like the Heritage Foundation. And that was just the beginning. I was angry that this history had never been told. Why was it hidden and white-washed?
But let's face it, people aren't interested and in the Church they want their ears tickled. They want heroes and narratives about their heroes slaying dragons. Kengor and Land tickle ears and so even though they're hacks and liars - they will flourish.
See also:
https://movieweb.com/reagan-president-true-story-explained/
https://slate.com/culture/2024/09/reagan-movie-2024-reviews-dennis-quaid.html
https://peoplesworld.org/article/the-new-reagan-film-is-an-ahistorical-conservative-fairytale/
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