I saw it this past weekend, and I really liked it. A lot of people hate Ronald Reagan. The secular left has this crazy idea that religion, free market economics and patriotism will start World War 3. Well, Reagan had a degree in economics, used to teach Sunday school, and he definitely thought that America was better than communism. And he beat the communists, without firing a shot.

Let’s see a movie review, from Focus on the Family:

But whether you’re young or old, whether you lived through the tumultuous latter days of the 20th century or not, Reagan, the movie, reminds us why courage and vision, tenacity and faith remain vitally important character qualities in our leaders.

And even though I did live through a portion of that era, Dennis Quaid’s portrayal of Ronald Reagan here shines a light on chapters of this actor-turned-politician’s life that I had little knowledge of myself.

Along the way, we see how the faith of a mother and the love of a devoted wife played huge roles in shaping the heart and soul of a failed actor into a president whose tenacity arguably bent the course of history.

When I walked out of the theater, my head was spinning from the way that Reagan’s mother Nellie and his second wife Nancy had treated him in the movie. I don’t have any personal experience with mothers looking after their children like this. Taking them to church. Giving them Christian books to read. Having a plan for them. Teaching them right from wrong. My mom didn’t do any of those things. And I am always surprised when I see a wife investing in her husband and supporting him, and getting upset when he cannot achieve everything he was mean to achieve.

Here’s a bit about his mother Nellie:

During Reagan’s youth, we see that his mother, Nelle, takes him to the First Christian Church in Dixon, Illinois. In one service there, we hear 2 Chronicles 7:14: “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 forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (KJV).

Nelle drills into her young son a sense of divine purpose and calling on his life—lessons that form the bedrock of Reagan’s sense of identity in some tough moments. “God has a purpose for your life,” Nelle instills into her impressionable boy. “Something only you can do.” Elsewhere she reminds him, “Remember to listen to that small, soft voice” when he’s alone and quiet, and to give it his “full attention.” She offers this exhortation as well: “Remember who you are and Whose you are.”

My mother never treated me like that, so I was really just lost taking in all this good mothering. I wondered what I could have been, if I had a mother, too. My mother’s god was money, and she certainly didn’t see me the way that Nellie say her son Ronald. I think a lot of women today want to have children, but if all they want to do is throw them into daycare and public schools, what’s the point of a man signing up to have other people raise his kids? Conversely, it might be worth it to have kids, if the man got to see a very good woman his children about God, and train them to achieve something in the world that respects God.

The review also talks about his second wife Nancy:

[H]is first wife, Jane Wyman, finds Reagan’s flirtation with politics disdainful. “Is there anything worse than an actor with a cause” she quips. And then she adds, scornfully, “You are an actor. That is your job. Not politics.”

Given that discrepancy of values, it’s no surprise that Reagan’s first union doesn’t last. His marriage skids toward the rocks about the same time his career does, prompting Reagan to tell his mother, “I lost a child, I lost my marriage, I lost my career.” That’s one of the points at which she encourages him with strong spiritual counsel (which we’ll unpack in the next section).

Here’s a bit more about his second wife, Nancy:

Near the end of his acting career, when he’s more involved with SAG than actually making movies, Reagan meets Nancy Davis. As their connection deepens, he says of himself, “I’m what you call damaged goods,” noting that he’s divorced, broke and has children from a previous marriage. Nancy gently counters, “We’re all damaged goods, Ronnie.” That prompts him to say, “I just want to do something good in this world, to make a difference.”

In the years that follow, of course, Reagan seeks to make good on that desire, with Nancy constantly encouraging him at his side—first in his run for the governor of California, then his first failed presidential campaign in 1976 (where he lost the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford) and finally in his sunset years as the specter of Alzheimer’s disease looms.

I’ve never had the feeling from any woman that my dreams were important, and that it was important to help me to achieve them. So again, I was just looking at all this excellent wife-ing, and thinking “wow, so that’s what it must be like to have a good wife”. Today, I see a lot of non-traditional women demanding that traditional men give them things, but they don’t want to be traditional wives. They don’t want to help men at all.

Honestly, I think this movie will make self-centered feminists very uncomfortable. It shows women treating boys and men well.

The movie also has some policy, diplomacy and history in it. But it’s at a high level. They talk a lot about religious liberty and about the need to deter aggression with strength. So, it’s a good introduction to conservative ideas. I think you’ll really like the movie. If you go see it, be sure to leave a comment telling me what you thought of it.