Reagan Constructs a Dangerous, Evangelical Mythology
“How did you memorize those verses so fast?” Nelle Reagan asks her young son early on in Reagan. Ronald shrugs, offering no response, but there’s only one conclusion Nelle comes to, and it’s one Reagan repeatedly mauls you with over the course of its 135 minutes: “Well, God has a purpose for your life.”
A young Christian prodigy. A righteous, anticommunist informant. A man deeply devoted to the nuclear family. These are just some of the myths Reagan aims to construct around its subject. The obvious propagandistic bent to director Sean McNamara’s film is harrowing, though Reagan isn’t close to being the first example of this. It’s part of a continuum of Christian dramas which have been decently popular among select audiences as of late (see: Unsung Hero and God’s Not Dead, the latter of which saw a sequel penned by Reagan writer Howard Klausner). But, Reagan’s insistence on presenting itself as a traditional biopic—while also hitting the beats of Christian cinema—makes it scarier. It fancies itself to be a likeness of reality but is simultaneously unapologetic about mythologizing its central figure, obfuscating Reagan’s sins along the way and refusing any narrative that doesn’t paint him as the Christian, capitalist savior of the family unit.
Reagan is narrated by former KGB agent Viktor Petrovich (Jon Voight), who we are apparently supposed to trust as a preeminent authority on Reagan’s personal life from ages 0-69. The feature is primarily interested in Reagan’s (Dennis Quaid) trajectory prior to his presidency—in the myriad ways in which his sterling ideology supposedly informed his private and public decision-making, with flashbacks of his childhood and adolescent years interspersed throughout. Based on Paul Kengor’s 2006 book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, Reagan accordingly focuses on one major ideological project: cementing the former president as a stalwart anticommunist idol. His adult life is tinted through this lens while his younger years, particularly as a child and adolescent, possess a distinctly biblical bent, positioning the young Reagan as a Christ-like figure.
“Every twist of fate is part of the divine plan,” Reagan tells a child, and Reagan structures itself in kind. Reagan’s rise to prominence and the presidency are all part of a divine plan, the picture claims over and over again. Reagan’s script is so painfully on-the-nose surrounding this point that the narrator—the previously mentioned former KGB agent—is as in on the idolatry as the rest of the film.
For example, in a flashback to Reagan’s childhood, Reagan quietly prays, singularly devout in his church. Petrovich adulates his storytelling and memorization abilities over voiceover, before telling us “[Reagan’s] father Jack was a charismatic storyteller. But his sordid talent drowned in the bottom of a bottle.” Despite this, Reagan managed to continue on Christ’s path, and Petrovich immediately tells us about Reagan’s baptism. “He was bringing people together and solving problems,” Petrovich says as the film flashes forward, depicting Reagan as a teenager helping his football coach sort out interpersonal issues between teammates.