REVIEW: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Courtesy of Focus Features

One of the bittersweet aspects of getting older is looking back and realizing you didn’t know how special something was while you were experiencing it. Whether momentous (a conversation with a loved one a few hours before they pass away unexpectedly) or trivial (a great meal at a restaurant you didn’t know was shutting down), we all have those times where we tell ourselves, “If I only knew…”

That’s precisely how I felt while watching – frequently through tears – Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Morgan Neville’s brilliant documentary about the legacy of Fred Rogers and his beloved television program Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. I watched that show all the time as a kid, admittedly because you had to wait until Saturday morning for the “fun” stuff in the days before Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and the internet. But it’s only in hindsight – with the help of this film – that I realize how beautiful and quietly revolutionary Rogers and his show were.

Throughout an expertly paced 94 minutes, Neville covers over five decades of Rogers’ life and demonstrates how the man with superhuman kindness lived out his belief that we should treat children with dignity and respect. That might seem obvious now, but in the era of “children should be seen and not heard,” taking kids seriously – particularly acknowledging and validating their problems and anxieties – was a radical philosophy.

As a young adult, Rogers thought he was destined for the seminary; however, as television exploded in popularity during the 1950s, he was one of the first people to comprehend its immense power as a tool for communication and persuasion. He put his plans on hold and began working for a local TV station doing puppets for a children’s show.

Although he eventually became an ordained Presbyterian minister, Rogers maintained that his calling was to teach children, using TV as a positive force for change. Utilizing puppets, amateur actors and his own soft-spoken demeanor, Rogers imparted his wisdom to generations of children. He taught them practical things, like how to plant a seed and how orange juice is made, as well as comforting them through terrifying crises like the Vietnam War, Robert Kennedy’s assassination and 9/11.

Rogers made it look easy, but Won’t You Be My Neighbor? posits that his show was a sustained attempt to present a coherent, humanitarian example of how we should treat both kids and adults with patience and compassion. Neville interviews Rogers’ wife and children, along with cast and crew members, all of whom paint a far more complex picture than many viewers would assume.

Extraordinarily gentle around his target audience (especially young people with disabilities and special needs), Rogers was also a painfully insecure man full of doubt and anxiety. In one particularly heartbreaking moment, Rogers’ widow recalls a conversation they had when he was on his deathbed. They’d been studying the Bible, specifically the passage in Matthew that describes how Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats on Judgment Day. He asked her if she thought he was a sheep, to which she replied, “If you’re not a sheep, what chance do the rest of us have?”

However, Rogers also didn’t suffer fools – especially TV execs who insulted children’s intelligence or viewed them only as consumers. He trusted kids could keep up, as evidenced by a subplot he tackled during his show’s first week on the air.

With America in the throes of Vietnam, Rogers depicted King Friday XIII as an angry ruler who builds a wall around his kingdom because he’s terrified of change and outsiders. However, war is averted at the last minute because the king’s supposed enemies parachute messages of love and peace over the wall. I’m sure there’s no way we can apply that to current events, right?

We’re almost halfway through the year and I can safely say that Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is my favorite movie of 2018 so far. I absolutely adored it and think it should be required viewing for everyone in America right now. If we could all be more like Mr. Rogers, the world would be a much better place.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and language. Now playing in limited release and expanding in the coming weeks.

Grade: A+