Can’t He Be Our Neighbor?

A year ago, if you told me a documentary about Mr. Rogers would vault to the top of my year’s best list, I would have probably laughed at you. But I say it proudly: Won't You Be My Neighbor? is one of the best, most emotionally engaging and flat-out satisfying films I've seen in ages.

One thing we can all agree on, we live in a divisive age. Civility plummets, anger soars. These are some of the most stressful and disagreeable times I can remember living through. Hate has become normalized. Racism is on the rise. We often wonder, Who's going to save us from all this?

An example for consideration is Fred Rogers. A public figure who I'm betting most of us blithely dismiss. A figure of parody, with his sweaters and soft spoken cadence. We probably think of Eddie Murphy's Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood as evidence of how ripe for satire his persona had become.

In 1968, Fred Rogers was a newly ordained minister interested in child development who suddenly discovered television, and realized the medium could become a "wonderful tool" to communicate and help children during the most formative early years of their childhood. Rogers intuited the powerful influence that television wielded, and worried about the coarse and recklessly impulse-driven programming that was even then beginning to dominate children's entertainment. It was a medium seemingly concerned more with raising good consumers than good people. “What we see and hear on the screen is part of who we become," he explained, and set out to provide a more positive and empathetic alternative. 

Directed by Morgan Neville, Won't You Be My Neighbor? shows us the early days of development of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, as well as contemporary interviews with Rogers' surviving family members and crew. Nixon administration budget cuts were poised to gut the fledgling environment of public television. But in amazing archival footage, we learn that Fred Rogers actually went before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communication, and testified so genuinely and with such clarity – he essentially saved public television, and convinced them to continue funding. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. 

I was stunned to learn how politically reactive and ahead of his time Rogers was willing to be on a child's TV show. During a time sadly reminiscent of current events today, when African American swimmers were being kicked out of swimming pools, Mr. Rogers joins Officer Clemmons, the black policeman of their neighborhood, in taking off their socks and soaking their feet in a kid’s pool together.

There are some wonderful surprises along the way in Won't You Be My Neighbor? I don't want to spoil, but as turmoil and social issues in our country occurred, Mr. Rogers dealt with them and let children know it was actually okay to talk about them - to acknowledge their fears - even with events as disturbing as assassination and mass disaster. Rogers was a deeply religious man, but never imposed religion or dogma on his impressionable audience. 

Mr. Rogers made a point of explaining reality to children, including death. By using the innocent stand-in of puppetry, he was able to deal with complex emotions and reassure children that how they might be feeling was okay. And if they were different - if they experienced a disability - more than anything else, “I like you just the way you are.” 

He could also educate in hilariously straightforward ways, asking the audience, "Want to see how long a minute is?" - then just setting an egg timer and letting it tick for 60 seconds! 

You will get misty during Won't You Be My Neighbor? I found myself getting very emotional more than once, perhaps in large part due to the twin realizations of how much pure good this one man did for generations of children, but also in pining for how desperate the times we live in today need more of his brand of empathy and sincere decency. If everyone acted a bit more like Fred Rogers, we'd have world peace in a heartbeat, treating all of humanity as our neighbors.

Very highly recommended.