Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?  (2018)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Morgan Neville
A documentary on the television career of Fred Rogers, the beloved kids' show host whose message of kindness and tolerance earned him millions of young admirers and the enmity of the goons on the far right. According to everybody who knew him, Rogers really was as gracious and unassuming off-camera as he was on TV, but he was passionately committed to his work, and he could be a formidable advocate for causes he believed in. Footage from a Senate hearing in which he argues for - and wins - government funding for PBS demonstrates that. Whether or not you're a part of the generation that grew up with "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood", it's hard not to be moved by his plain decency and empathy toward children. At a time when much of the public discourse has dissolved into meanness and vitriol, Fred's appeal to our better instincts can seem like a relic from another age. Call it the lost art of caring. But if we hope to survive the current mess we're in with our humanity intact, we're going to need all the old-fashi0ned love we can get. The world has plenty of bullies and demagogues. It could do with a few more people like Mr. Rogers.