Reagan

I watched this on Link TV, a liberal cable channel specializing in those such as Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, so I expected it to be scathing. It certainly stripped away many illusions, but while strongly critical the results of trickle down, and the limits of his grasp of complexity of issues; it defined his positions fairly.

He did evolve from a New Deal Democrat, leading his Actors Union against management, but also was viscerally opposed to global Marxism, and the social revolution of the 1960s.

The insights of Morris, his official biographer for almost a decade, along with Cannon who wrote several biographies including when he was Governor, provide special scholarly insight.

The current Republican conservatives forget that he pass what was an actual amnesty for illegal-undocumented immigrants, and actually increased both government spending and deficits.

It could be that his hawkish policies early on allowed him more latitude to connect with someone eager to wind down the cold war, Michel Gorbechev. History doesn't allow for controlled experiments so we can't re-run events with a different leader at the helm.

I commend this documentary for those who lived through the era, but events have become hazy.

Ronald Reagan has become such a mythologised figure by the American right that it's hard for a documentary to present a balanced view. Moreover, Americans in general tend to treat their Presidents with a respect that is wholly absent from British politics; although Eugene Jarecki's documentary is actually not bad in challenging the myths (both that everything Reagan did was good, and also that he did everything that has been attributed to him), in it's tone, it can't help but add to them. In fact, it's pretty soft on his early years, and fails to mention that as Governor of California, his trick was really to talk like a conservative but to spend like only liberals were supposed to (although it concedes the same point with regard to his subsequent presidency). On the presidency itself, Jarecki's film delivers a harder verdict, as the critics are far more precise than the admirers, who can only defend Reagan through vague eulogy. It's a bit odd, however, that the final verdict on Reagan's years, and American society, is given by a former military officer who seems no more entitled to pass the definitive opinion than any of the rest of us. One interesting thing for me was to see that Reagan was, at his peak, a genuinely accomplished performer - dismissed as senile by his enemies perhaps before he truly was, he comes across as shrewder than popular perception allows, even if one can dispute the value of his legacy.

Reagan

The reason an actor was chosen to assume the most powerful position in the free world was because he would work for scale.

Which explains why the first thespian president featured in this documentary was also a corporate shill.

Through interviews with friends, family and other politicians, the 40th President of the United States is placed under a microscope to examine the events that lead the charismatic actor to become Commander and Chief.

From his early days as a liberal, to his compliance with anti-communism, and his spokesperson position with General Electric, Reagan's power to rouse patriotism set the stage for the actor's starring role.

From the Cold War, to the Berlin Wall, this HBO documentary recollects, reveres and rips apart Reagan's most memorable moments in office.

Incidentally, the best thing about being a movie star president is that your stunt double takes all of the assassination bullets for you. (Green Light)

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To mark the 100th birthday of President Reagan HBO just recently showed a doc titled "Reagan" and I must say director Eugene Jarecki made the film rich and moving with footage from the entire life of Ronald both personal and political. The film chronicles from his 1911 birth till his 2004 death from Alzheimer's. Interesting is seeing behind the scenes footage from his early days as an actor, and plenty of important footage from his two terms as the 40th U.S. president is shown.

This doc is very educational as many may not know that Reagan as an actor was the SAG president and later a spokesperson for GE and this was a turning point for his politics from liberal democrat to conservative republican. As Ronald saw at GE how company profits worked making him pro business with trickled down economics and with Hollywood's liberal support of communism he broke away from that crowd becoming very anti communist and more of a war hawk.

After then you see how his good looks, and success of being a well known actor and speaking voice and charisma lead him to becoming California's governor he clearly was a man with the will power and spunk to accomplish he had all the makings of a strong leader. Which would later propel him into the presidency.

So in 1980 he crushed and beat Jimmy Carter by a landslide in the election it certainly was a new era in politics. Especially with the religious right shaping him, America, and the republican party with moral values. Clearly he was a man who cared about people.

During the doc you aside from the clips and footage you hear from historians, staff members, journalists, and biographers and family members who tell what an influence that second wife Nancy was on his presidency and life. And many point out Ronald's negatives like economists and international advisers mention Reagan's blunders of massive tax cuts which grew deficits during the 80's with high unemployment and telling was the Iran contra scandal which almost rocked his second term. So Ronnie wasn't a perfect man as he during his second term also ignored the AIDS crisis and fought hard against labor unions.

Love him or hate him Ronald Reagan will go down as a memorable icon both culturally and politically a leader who had a lasting impact. He was a man of many faces salesman,actor, politician, leader, religious man and controversial yet thru it all his legacy shines and last in the sunset sea to shining sea.

This film is very bias! It was created by a liberal filmmaker who is trying to make Reagan look horrible. It's a terrible documentary.

It skips around things. The film looks at a couple things Reagan did bad as president and it does not even look at all his success he had especially with the economy in fact it actually skews the facts and misleads people a lot. For example: I noticed towards the end of the documentary that there is footage put in there of a news reporter saying something like "7 million more Americans are living in poverty since Reagan took office."

Look up the official poverty rate numbers and you'll see when Reagan took office the poverty rate was at 14%. The next year it was at 15.2% due to the bad recession that had started right before Reagan took office and the filmmaker never even mentions the recession. When Reagan left office the poverty rate was at 13%.

So the poverty rate was at 14% went up to 15.2% and was at 13% when Reagan left office. The filmmaker clearly adds in the news report trying to skew facts making it look like the economy failed under Reagan. IT IS VERY MISLEADING TO PEOPLE.

You should be ashamed of yourself Eugene Jarecki. You are not a respectable filmmaker! There is much more I can call you out on but don't fell like typing anymore.