As a Canadian child of the 90s, I didn’t know of Mr. Rogers as much as his Canadian counterpart Mr. Dressup. Nevertheless, I was still incredibly charmed and moved by Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, a documentary from 20 Feet from Stardom director Morgan Neville, about the life of Fred Rogers, his seminal childrens’ program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and his philosophy on childhood.
Through interviews with those who worked with him, family, and footage of the man himself, the movie paints a picture of Fred Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister and student of child psychology; and how his passion for teaching and communicating with children, stemming from his own personal connection to childhood, led to a decades-spanning staple of childrens’ television. Discussing the history of the show, the film touches on everything from him single-handedly convincing Senator John Pastore to restore funding to PBS, to his short-lived show for adults, to his adorable meeting with the recently deceased Koko the gorilla, all the while emphasizing the themes of kindness, empathy, and love he espoused week after week for the duration his show was on the air.
The mark of a good documentary is in how it’s structured and edited to best present its point. The production is a lot more fragmented than a narrative film, so it requires a great deal more surety of how the story needs to be conveyed and framed. Neville does this incredibly well, choosing not to focus much on Rogers’ early life except in how it pertains to the legacy of his show and character. The film also utilizes animated segments to illustrate Rogers’ own feelings, cleverly personifying him through his alter ego, Daniel Striped Tiger. It weaves its way seamlessly through the chronology of Rogers’ life and the significant bullet points of his show, relating a better idea of its importance on American culture and the impact it’s left. And it keeps you interested, as it intersects history with footage, through which we see in practice his love for children. On Rogers’ penchant for slow, quiet respites on his show, someone in the movie remarked that despite the silence not a moment was wasted. No moment is wasted in this movie either.
This film is a character study and tribute much more than a biography. It touches on a few aspects of Rogers’ life that are unusual, such as his consistent ‘143’ lb weight and how he maintained it, as well as the public perception of his odd T.V. persona, which was really his own persona, no façade. But what mostly interests Neville is Rogers’ philosophy and devotion to his work. Rooted in his faith, primarily adherence to the Christian Golden Rule, Rogers practiced and instilled in children the virtues of kindness, generosity, honesty, charity, and empathy towards all, and he was resolute and bold in doing this, even if he didn’t seem so. Because he addressed kids comfortably on their own terms with a deep understanding of how they processed the world, he could relate these values in cogent ways. His show tackled tons of issues considered taboo in childrens’ entertainment, such as grief, divorce, war, and in a particularly wonderful and intelligent bit, depression. The show was very topical too, addressing things like the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and the Challenger disaster. In this, he was teaching parents how to explain the harsh realities of life to children as well. Perhaps my favourite part is a clip where, in defiance of segregated swimming pools, he invites his black neighbourhood police officer played by Francois Clemmons to soak his feet in a little tide pool with him -giving the camera a knowing look as he does so. Nobody really considers Mr. Rogers for the rebel he was and this doc deserves credit for that. His dim views on childrens’ television and media in general also pushed him to give himself more to the importance of his mission; and though you certainly don’t agree with all of his viewpoints, it’s hard not to see the nobility behind it all.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is also the most persistently poignant film I’ve seen this year. Rogers’ kindness transcends the screen and touches your heart. This sentiment doesn’t feel artificial, rather it exudes naturally from the man being celebrated through little more than playing a few of his songs on friendliness and self-worth; his message on each child being special demonstrated in his patient, completely invested interactions with them. An anecdote about children in a hospital “testing” him by way of an unusual question, is quite as affecting as him talking sweetly to a boy with a disability about to undergo major surgery. The movie is dotted with heartwarming moments because its subject was such a heartwarming figure.
Fred Rogers died in 2003. In the fifteen years since then, there’s been plenty of time to make a documentary about his life and career, so the fact that Won’t You Be My Neighbor? comes at a time of especially heavy turbulence and misery in the country he was most revered in is no accident. The compassion, decency, and love he felt so essential for people to understand is in stark contrast to the actions of a lot of people in the world today. The films’ thesis is that Rogers and his message are needed now more than ever. And that appears to be very much true.
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jbosch/
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