Won't You Be My Neighbor?

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor” is a film documentary chronicling the life and career of one of the most beloved television personalities who ever appeared on the screen, Fred Rogers (aka “Mr. Rogers”). Morgan Neville, the documentarian and director of this film has captured the essence and purity of this beautiful man whose sole aim in life was to enhance and better the lives of the small children he was able to come in contact with via the medium of television.  His almost 2000 tv episodes sought not only to entertain but to help those in his young audience to understand the evils of bigotry, the heartbreak of divorce, the challenges of illness and the sadness of death, all topics previously unknown and untouched on children’s television shows. Ordained as a Presbyterian minister Mr. Rogers never preached to his flock but, instead, chose to communicate with them and, by doing so, achieved their love, affection and respect. More than that, Fred Rogers was off the screen the same person he was on it. He lived his every day life believing and espousing that we are all special and that what all of us really want in life is to love, be loved and to be worthy of that affection. I give this film 4 stars and answer the question in the film’s title in this manner: “Yes, Mr. Rogers, I would have loved to be your neighbor and, even more so, your friend.”