The Reagan Show

This film is not an in-depth look at the two terms of President Ronald Reagan, but rather focuses on certain elements of his personality which were reflected in how he communicated to the American people and world leaders. There's plenty of archival footage of the time, plus quite a lot of behind-the-scenes quick peeks into how press video releases and speeches were staged.

What I found most interesting about the documentary was the eerie comparisons to nearly all the Presidents that have followed, in terms of how they've isolated themselves from answering tough questions from the press or even the public. What you often see in the Reagan era, and continuing to the present day, is a President walking across a White House lawn waving to reporters who are forced to shout questions at him from afar as he boards a waiting helicopter. Even when an occasional press conference is held it all seems scripted and meaningless.

When you hear Ronald Reagan declare "let's make America great again", the media criticizing his spending 1 of every 6 days on vacation during his Presidency, and how he's not really that interested in daily briefings and is too detached, these are all things we certainly hear today.

Unfortunately, I don't see an easy answer on the horizon as to how to reverse the Presidency from remaining a "show". It will take some new radical concepts , I believe, and some very strong and remarkable leadership to change the current detachment of government and gridlock we have now.