21/02/2020
A beautiful day in the neighbourhood
On our trip to the cinema, we went to see, ‘A Beautiful day in the Neighborhood’, starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, an American childrens’ television presenter whose popular show, ‘Mr. Roger’s neighborhood’, ran from 1968 to 2001. With the use of songs and puppets and in his quiet and calm manner, he dealt with children’s emotional and physical problems in an entertaining and accessible way. His message is that everyone is worthwhile and that we should all help each other, he was full of good advice and admired for helping children with the difficulties involved in dealing with the many problems involved in growing up such as, death, divorce, bullying and sibling rivalry. While he is a practically unknown character in this part of the world, he was a much loved institution for generations of Americans.
In the film, he is well played by Tom Hanks, an actor who is also well loved for his likability. The plot involves an unhappy, cynical journalist (Matthew Rhys) who is dealing with feelings of anger directed at his father (Chris Cooper) for abandoning his mother when she was dying while he also struggles to cope with the responsibility of himself being a new parent. He is given an assignment to write a short article about Mr. Rogers. He accepts it, wishing to find any flaws in his character. He finds that actually Mr. Rogers in genuinely caring and wise and through the film he is helped to repair his relationship with his father.
The film was directed by Marielle Heller who had previously made an excellent film called ‘The Diary of a Teenage Girl’, which deals with a girl growing up told in an honest and sensitive way. ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ is entertaining and touching, it is well acted. It could so easily be sentimental and twee but it feels honest and moving. It would mean more to those people who grew up with Mr Rogers but it’s always good to learn about things and people we don’t know especially about people who added to the wellbeing of the world like Fred Rogers did.
