2 weeks Ago
One of the most subtle moments in Reagan, the biopic starring Dennis Quaid as the 40th President of the United States, comes at the first inauguration sequence, with a close-up of Ronald Reagan's hand on an open Bible, revealing a margin note in 2 Chronicles: "A wonderful verse for the healing of a nation." Real Reagan-heads will know that this is the King James that Ronald's mother, Nelle, annotated and passed down to her son, which he was sworn in on at both of his inaugurations in 1981 and 1985. Reagan kept it open to that verse, which reads: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven .
. . and will heal their land.
" This passage, in reference to King Solomon—whom Christ himself extolled as a wise king—adds to the sibylline nature of Ronald Reagan's presidency that Reagan seeks to convey. The verse in his mother's Bible, along with a preacher's prophecy earlier in the film about Reagan's path to the White House (which, in the moment, spooks the future president), and the deeds we will see him commit to end the Cold War argue that Reagan the man, the human, the mortal was also Reagan the Heavenly God brought to Earth. It is sure to resonate with the target audience of a film penned by the writer of a God's Not Dead sequel and produced by journeymen EPs of the Pure Flix and Hard Faith christofascist content creation world (and yes, Kevin Sorbo makes an appearance).
The greatest sin of Reagan, though, is not its warped worldview, which is to be expected, but that for a movie about a man who puts himself at the center of a world apparently on the brink of annihilation, Reagan lacks any drama at all. The whole film is framed as the memories of an ex-KGB agent played by Jon Voight, Viktor Petrovich (who I have to imagine is a completely fictional character because 1) Petrovich is not a surname but a patronym, and 2) TMDB and Letterboxd miscredit the..
. Photo , Rawhide Releasing.
