海角大神

I鈥檓 tempted to say that the documentary 鈥淲on鈥檛 You Be My Neighbor?鈥� is exactly what we need in these scabrous times, but that makes it sound too self-important. And if there is one thing that Fred Rogers, the host and creator of the beloved educational children鈥檚 show 鈥淢ister Rogers鈥� Neighborhood,鈥� would disdain, it鈥檚 self-importance. That, and being disrespectful of children.

Morgan Neville鈥檚 movie is more than just a chronicle of Rogers鈥檚 career. In some not-quite-definable way, the film itself is all of a piece with Rogers鈥檚 principled gentleness. It鈥檚 a love letter, but the sentiment and affection that pour through the film is honestly arrived at, even when, near the end, the film threatens to turn into the cinematic equivalent of a group hug.聽

Neville and his collaborators have done a thorough dig through Rogers鈥檚 life and work, drawn from a lifetime of archives right through his death in 2003, but there are no besmirching revelations to be found here. The worst charge leveled against Rogers, a lifelong registered Republican, comes from a few right-wing talking heads who accuse him of coddling an entire generation of Millennials into a false sense of entitlement. Would the world be a better place if, instead, we had had 鈥淢ister Rogers鈥� Tough-Love Neighborhood鈥�?聽

The simple fact is that Rogers, who is now on a postage stamp and will be portrayed in an upcoming biopic by Tom Hanks, is exactly as advertised: a genuinely caring man who can unabashedly say, 鈥淟ove is at the root of everything.... Love or the lack of it.鈥� One can certainly, with a head full of cynicism, argue this point, but one can鈥檛 argue with Rogers鈥檚 sincerity. Or his achievement. (The show, which started in the United States nationwide in 1968 on NET, ran for more than 30 years.) 聽

Prior to his TV career, Rogers studied in a seminary and eventually became an ordained Presbyterian minister, and so it鈥檚 not surprising when one of his colleagues says in the movie, 鈥淭here was a noble, spiritual dimension to what he did.鈥� But, at least in terms of the TV show, it was a strictly nondenominational spirituality. He had an ecumenical embrace, and children responded to him because he didn鈥檛 judge them. He wanted them to know every one of them had value.聽

Rogers first got the idea for the show after seeing all the balloons and Bozos on children鈥檚 television and thinking there must be a better and more meaningful way of reaching out to little kids. Again, one can argue this point: You can love 鈥淢ister Rogers鈥� Neighborhood,鈥� with its pipsqueak puppets, miniature trolleys, and genial human cast of characters and still, at the same time, love 鈥淟ooney Tunes鈥� cartoons and 鈥淭om and Jerry.鈥澛�

But Rogers, with a tiny budget and minimal props, created a world that children entered into for a half-hour each week with the full expectation they would be reuniting with a friend. There鈥檚 a clip in the documentary of a girl, perhaps 5 or 6, who shyly walks up to Rogers during what looks like an informal get-together on the set and says, 鈥淚 want to tell you something.... I like you.鈥澛�

Anybody who can keep a dry eye at a moment like that is made of sterner stuff than I. Or, for that matter, Sen. John Pastore, the initially brusque congressional subcommittee chairman who, as we see in a clip from a 1969 hearing to determine the endangered budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service, melted in simple gratitude after hearing Rogers鈥檚 pleaful testimony. (The documentary, by necessity, only shows a portion of Rogers鈥檚 speech, but it鈥檚 worth checking out the whole segment on YouTube, where it enjoyed a resurgence following President Trump鈥檚 proposed plan to pull all federal funding for the CPB.) 聽

Eddie Murphy鈥檚 satirical jab at the show on 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� was wickedly funny but also misguided. Rogers, with his cardigans, soft shoes, and soft voice, did not reside in cloud cuckooland. He dealt with divorce and dying on the show, in ways that children could comprehend. In 1986, he devoted a week to the trauma of the Challenger explosion. When it was widely reported that a white man had dumped bleach into a public pool to drive out black children, he featured a segment in which Mr. Rogers and Officer Clemmons, played by the black actor Fran莽ois Clemmons, share a foot bath.聽

I was just starting high school when 鈥淢ister Rogers鈥� Neighborhood鈥� first aired, and, in my adolescent arrogance, I pretended it was all silly stuff. But the truth is, the basic decency of the show spoke to me then and, as this movie reminds me, it still does.聽Grade: A- (Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and language.)