Review of Reagan (2011) by Raul V — 08 Nov 2011

First off, if you have HBO right now, WATCH, DVR, or ON-DEMAND this doc immediately! Director Eugene Jarecki ("Why We Fight" & "The Trials Of Henry Kissenger") delivers a very complex, at times even contradicting, view on Ronald Reagan's entire private & public life.

For those on the left who thought of him as a clueless, heartless puppet of the powers that be...you'll be more than a little surprised. For those on the right who thought of Reagan as a God of sorts who saved freedom & capitalism & perhaps could do no wrong.

..you'll be more than a bit taken back by the actual journey the man took in his life to ever reach that kind of persona. Everyone else interested will undoubtedly find something new or very intriguing about the life of this man.

An all-encompassing documentary that never trashes the man in any way, nor does it placate to today's right wing punditry in any shape or form. There's a lot of myth-making & evoking pertaining to the ex-President nowadays.

This doc hopefully helps deflate some of those myths (Ex: Reagan was never hardcore against illegal immigrants in this country...He fuckin' granted over 2.5 million immigrants amnesty towards the end of his presidency!) It's funny.

..almost everyone I know my age or older seem to have a definite feeling one way or the other about the man. The ironic part of that is that I believe very few of those people actually KNOW anything of relevance pertaining to the ex-President.

If you're interested...watch this doc...you might even learn something. For all others out there...keep watching your "American Idol" & "Jersey Shore" marathons.