Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

You’re trying to make up your mind whether you want to see it or not, right? Hopefully, I can help you with that!

Take your sweater out of the hall closet, put on your comfy shoes and have a seat. Did I mention that all the while you’re making yourself at home you are softly chatting with the children who are sitting in front of their televisions, just waiting for their daily visit with you, their friend, Mister Rogers?

I have to say that as a busy Mom, I barely noticed Fred Rogers. I just knew that when he came on the TV, my kids sat down and were mostly sweet, quiet little angels. Did I ever question that? Absolutely not, but neither did I seem to have the time to figure out what was going on between Mister Rogers and his wee friends.

I am thoroughly disgusted with television today. I could broaden that statement to media in general but for today television is broad enough. I was out of state last week on a combination business trip with a family visit added in. When I left California, I accidentally left my cell phone in my car. I was finally able to get a friend to retrieve and overnight the “thing” but by the time I finally received it I think I had passed through my withdrawals for a stage amazingly like euphoria.

Let’s go back to Mister Rogers. This amazing film about the life and career of the one and only Fred Rogers is not to be missed. Academy Award winning filmmaker, Morgan Neville brings us this intimate and compelling look at America’s favorite neighbor. A simple portrait of a man who had a passion for children and a gentle soul that just connected with them.

Fred Rogers was not afraid to approach tough, serious subjects that children generally don’t have the tools to process. In his years on TV he developed episodes on divorce, death, assassination and even racial integration. It’s a neighborhood of a lot more daring messages than you probably remembered. He gave these little ones answers they needed, in a way they could understand. Answers other adults in their lives weren’t capable of articulating because of the pain of the tragedy.

After the unimaginable terror of 9/11, Rogers was brought back out of retirement for a period of time. While so many were still emotionally traumatized from the constant barrage of visual images on TV, Fred Rogers was doing his best to explain to our precious children about life and death.

Fred Rogers almost single handedly saved the government funding for PBS! He was kind. He was gentle but he was always defending the children he cared about so very much.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the ratings this film garnered. Rotten Tomatoes has a 99% Critics Rating and a 97% Fan Rating. As long as I’ve been watching ratings, I have never encountered numbers that high. Take this opportunity to step back to a kinder gentler time. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? has left the theaters so watch for it on DVD or streaming, hopefully in the near future. As always, I welcome your comments at Carolyn@carolynhastings.com.