Won’t You Be My Neighbor review: The power of positivity

Sometimes, the world can seem like a little too much to handle. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is an exercise in slowing down and taking in life’s invisible luxuries, from life to love.

Children have, and continue, to receive something of a dubious reputation as small-minded and impressionable people. Impressionable? Maybe so. But this mindset towards children has created a societal ignorance towards the needs of children. We see it in the aspects of entertainment media. The most successful films out right now, for example, are the loud, violent and overblown blockbusters that seem more concerned with distraction rather than education. Fred Rogers was a man who believed in the above statement so adamantly and his life and philosophy are delved into in the newest documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Fred Rogers, an ordained minister and the host of the classic kid’s television program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, has long been known as the quiet and kind host with a penchant for feeding his fish, wearing sneakers around the house and relaxing with his now-legendary cardigan sweater (zipped up of course). When it came to a children’s program host, Fred Rogers was certainly unconventional, boasting a radically different persona and atmosphere to some of the louder and wackier programs on at the time (and even nowadays).

Most importantly, Rogers used that easygoing persona to communicate to children and adults alike about a variety of different topics, from loving yourself to dealing with the death of a loved one. Heavy topics, yes, but Rogers did it with the utmost respect and grace that it’s unfathomable to witness how someone can be so genuinely kind. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? dives into the character/person that is Fred Rogers and in doing so, provide a heartwarming and emotional character study of one of the most neighborly humans on the planet.

“Kids can spot a phony a mile away.“

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? starts out appropriately enough with a video-taped conversation with Fred Rogers as he plays the piano and explains his philosophy on the power of supporting one another, using the piano as symbolism to make his point. Just from the start of the film, the audience gets a picture-perfect portrait of the television host, setting the tone to follow afterwards.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? happily delves into the early stages of what would soon follow with Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, revealing Rogers’ frustration with children’s programming at the time. Feeling as though the shows were too gimmicky and absent-minded in terms of educating children, Rogers wanted to take matters into his own hands, creating his own show in the process and it was there where Rogers began to make his mark on television.

More from Movies

• The story of a French emperor: Here’s where Napoleon will stream after theaters
• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes honors its origins and far surpasses them
• Thanksgiving movie death toll: Why [SPOILER] is still alive
• No, Thanksgiving is not streaming yet (But here’s where it’ll land)
• Trolls Band Together soundtrack guide: Which songs play in the movie?

Though a bit scattershot in retelling the events surrounding the show, the documentary milks every scene for all its worth, creating a compelling narrative within the documentary itself, concerning the mindset of Fred Rogers. Though he is generally seen to be the same person he was on the set of his show, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? takes a brutally honest look into the multiple things that made him tick, from small things like actors going off-script to major insecurities about his own self-worth. There are even several animated sequences in the film detailing Daniel Tiger (one of the puppets of the show) hanging out by himself and letting his imagination run wild (an obvious parallel to Fred Rogers), further painting Fred to be a man who never let his childhood die, despite his insecurities.

“Love is at the root of everything.”

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? details not only his insecurities, but the creative approach he used to get those feelings across, which would usually end up onscreen for the world to see. Often using his Daniel Tiger puppet to communicate his feelings, Rogers revealed his fears of the evils of the world, including in a now-legendary episode that involved the show explaining what assassination means (the episode was aired as a response to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy). Another episode saw Fred, as Daniel, ask Lady Aberlin (one of the characters on the show) if he was a mistake, which was a question that clearly shook the actress onscreen. However, the actors, least of all Fred, never broke character, keeping a hearty atmosphere that was both welcoming and natural in form.

Part of the reason for that is Fred’s belief that he never felt the need to craft a goofy persona for children to latch onto. The Fred Rogers that we saw happily put his cardigan sweater on at the start of each episode was the same man off-camera. Won’t You Be My Neighbor does a wonderful job exploring both facets of Rogers’ personality, however similar they may be. The film revealed Rogers’ penchant for silence and patience, as he was always shown taking his time with talking to the audience or other adults around him. Ironically, it’s the one major issue I found with the film, as it felt as though it was trying to rush through the chronology of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, leaving some beats sadly underdeveloped in the final product. If ever there was a perfect format for a documentary on Fred Rogers, it would’ve been as a Netflix miniseries, where no stone could be left unturned in the process.

Next: The box office champions of the week: Ant-Man and the Wasp and The First Purge

Despite its occasionally rushed pace, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is still effective in its overall finality, with director, Morgan Neville, crafting a simple and beautiful film on the power of positivity. Fred Rogers, believe it or not, was not a perfect man and this documentary makes no qualms with the fact. Rogers had insecurities, doubts and some would even say he was a little too naive for his own good. The funny thing is Rogers would more than likely agree with some of those aspects about himself. But Rogers was not the man who would let those insecurities ruin his mission to teach children on various aspects of life.

Arguably the most human moment of Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is a scene detailing some of Rogers’ goofs on the air, such as struggling to get on a pogo stick and having trouble zipping up his sweater to the tune of the opening theme song. Rogers, despite showing his minor annoyance with not getting the routine completely correct, went on anyway, stating he can get it right another time. It was the moment where the true nature of Rogers and the message of the film is clear: nobody is perfect, but don’t let that stop you from spreading some kindness.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is continuing to expand into more theaters in the United States.