I, like millions of other children who grew up in the late sixties and seventies, loved Mr. Rogers with a quiet intensity, and while I've always attributed that love to how calm the show was, how devoid of the frenzy of the other children's shows (I was a rather serious child who disliked cartoons and all that yelling and banging), after watching Morgan Neville's beautiful documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? I'm thinking it was more because I knew on some deep level that Mr. Rogers loved me. The documentary spends little time on Rogers' life and more on how he drew from his experience in child development and a deep spirituality (he was an ordained Presbyterian minister) to shape an inimitable show that celebrated and honored true human emotions without judgement. I teared up several times in the movie, particularly during the parts that demonstrated his love and attention toward children with disabilities and those of other races, and I left the movie wishing that he were still alive to shore us up in these terrible American times.
*I used to write a Saturday Three-Line Movie Review and decided tonight to revive it on Sunday mornings, particularly if I've seen a movie (I don't go nearly as often as I used to). You can read other Three-Line Reviews here:
More 3-Line Movie Reviews
Learning to Drive
Love and Mercy
Not a Three Line Movie Review
While We're Young
Ida
Force Majeur
Gone Girl
Saint Vincent
Get on Up
Begin Again
Chef
The Immigrant
Cesar Chavez
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gloria
Labor Day
Philomena
