Why would anyone want to watch a movie about Mr. Rogers?

We all like movies that make us feel like a bigger person when it’s
over. Maybe for that reason, I liked the movie, It’s a Beautiful Day in
the Neighborhood.  From the movie’s quote, “He’s a little more complex
than I thought,” it’s going to take some time for me to unpack the
lessons in this movie, or in the life of Fred Rogers. I’ll be watching
it again. Besides, it has some fairly nice drama.

The main character of the movie was a writer named Lloyd Vogel rather than
Fred Rogers and it was mostly based on real events. More specifically,
it was about the impact Mr. Roger’s had on Vogel’s personal life.
Mr. Vogel, being a hired writer, was required to do a ‘Heroes’ magazine
article on Fred Rogers. But to do a heroes article on Rogers was a
conflict since Mr. Vogel had the unpleasant tendency of doing exposé
pieces and tearing people down when it was perhaps unnecessary.

Mr. Roger’s assistant told Vogel, “Mr. Roger’s likes people like you,
“the kind of people that hate humanity.” This surprised Vogel. But Mr. Rogers
allowed the writer to do the article knowing full well Vogel might make
a critical article.  Are there people in our lives, or perhaps even ourselves, tearing people down? And why?  And how do we deal with that? The movie covers this and more in a month in the life of Mr. Rogers.

I liked the movie because it displays the simple need to value people,
or not, and its effects on our lives and the complicated human reasons
behind it.

Bruce Hutcherson