This attempt to dismantle the Reagan legacy is not without occasional insight, but ultimately fails to rise much above a one-sided propaganda. Even positive initiatives like the "Just Say No" campaign are presented as disastrous. Historic and remarkable achievements like the detente with the Soviet Union are devalued or breezed over (none of the enlightening quotes from Gorbachev's own positive assessment of Reagan are permitted to be aired here). The conservative voices that do appear are usually just props granted a brief sentence to drive forward the plot and open the field for a series of left-wing denunciations (usually peppered with variations of the phrase "he was just an actor"). Whatever else Reagan's son may bring to the narrative, "filial piety" is not in the mix - he relentlessly pillories his parents' legacy (it may be the editing that achieves this effect).
So it's not so much "warts and all", as nearly all warts. In short - a disappointment. That said, it is skilfully done as far as it goes, and the archival footage is genuinely interesting and revealing of how society has changed. Provided you do not seek to "learn it all" from this account of the Reagan years, you will find it hard not to learn something.
So it's not so much "warts and all", as nearly all warts. In short - a disappointment. That said, it is skilfully done as far as it goes, and the archival footage is genuinely interesting and revealing of how society has changed. Provided you do not seek to "learn it all" from this account of the Reagan years, you will find it hard not to learn something.