Photos by Focus Features
I hate that I was late in seeing Won’t You Be My Neighbor. I hate when life intrudes on my movie “to see list,” but better late than never. I have one thing to say to anyone who has not seen the latest film by Academy Award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville, go out and see this film. I was a bit old for watching Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. By the time it was available on PBS I was older. I grew to respect Rev. Rogers later in his and my life. Of course, as an adult and pastor who appreciates someone who loves and genuinely cares for children and their healthy development, I am grateful for all the lives Fred Rogers impacted.
From the film critic point of view, Won’t You Be My Neighbor is an engaging and entertaining film that offers something to those very familiar and those unfamiliar with Mr. Rogers and his program. As a documentary film, it provides both a 30,000-foot view as well as an intimate portrait into the life of Fred Rogers and those in his personal and production family. The film has entertaining interviews with family and others connected to the program, thus offering insight into the man and his message. As with any film that addresses periods in time, one cannot help compare eras. Produced in the last year, 
Won’t You Be My Neighbor offers a contrasting voice and message to what is in the air today. The film is not obvious in pointing out the differences; it doesn’t have to be. There was an audible murmur when they showed tape from the first week of the program in 1968. The video showed the puppet character King Friday the XIII fearing the “Changers” and requiring reluctant subjects to build a wall to keep people who wanted to bring change out of his Kingdom. The clip ended with the human Lady Aberlin sending balloons with “signs” calling for peace and acceptance of others over the wall to the King.
Even though Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian clergy, he never mentioned it on the air and rarely in public. Rather than saying he was ordained, he presented the face of Christ to children and the world. His genuine love of children led him to take time to be with and listen to children and then offer them a non-anxious, calming presence. He respected children, and he fearlessly addressed topics that all others avoided. When RFK was assassinated Mr. Rogers addressed the issue, explaining what assassination was and the fear and sadness that the nation was feeling. Mr. Rogers knew that the children would know something had happened and wonder why parents and others were sad and scared. To avoid talking about the issue would only make the children’s fear more pronounced. He loved children too much to allow this. Loving and engaging children like this are exactly what Jesus intended when he called for his disciples to allow children to come to him.
A week after there were news reports and film of a hotel owner chasing African Americans out of the hotel pool by pouring bleach into the water to “clean” it, the neighborhood of Mr. Rogers showed him sharing a footbath with Officer Clemmons, portrayed by Francois Clemmons, an African American member of the cast. There was no mention of the hotel incident. there did not have to be.
Every disciple has a duty to present the person of Jesus to others. I cannot think of anyone who has reflected the face of Christ more genuine and lovingly than Fred Rogers. Because Won’t You Be My Neighbor models this call to all disciples of Jesus Christ, and indeed children of God of all faiths, it is the most impactful faith film I have seen.
Beyond the realm of faith films, when considering the struggle and brokenness so prevalent in our time, Fred Rogers’s faith-driven desire to build or repair genuine community by caring and loving others, Won’t You Be My Neighbor is one of the most important films in my memory
Won’t You Be My Neighbor is rated PG-13 and is in current release.
I thought I would review The Shape of Water, the winner of the 2018 Academy Award for Best Picture in a different way, a text log between me and my niece.
Me: People/govt. afraid of difference in others…other people united, by what makes them different…Allowing what unites them to overcome their difference.
Me: I thought Sally Hawkins’s performance was extraordinary…
In addition to the Best Picture Oscar, Guillermo del Toro won the Oscar for Best Direction. The Shape of Water is a beautifully photographed film where the acting is just as impressive, and as with most fantasy films, The Shape of Water allows, if not demands for continued contemplation and application to one’s life and circumstance. It’s not a film everyone will relate to or enjoy, but it was worthy of winning the Best Picture award.
The program stars Dallas native Jay R. Ferguson (Mad Men) as Chip Curry, a film critic who experiences two life-changing events that led him to reconsider his life trajectory. Chip decides he will attempt to live his life as prescribed by the Bible. To help him in this endeavor he develops relationships with a Roman Catholic Priest and a Jewish Rabbi, who meet regularly in a restaurant/bar for interfaith support. This God-Squad helps guide Chip in applying ancient teachings and practices in a modern context.
Based on the preview shows, it seems each episode will explore an issue of life and faith such as loving thy neighbor and the allure and challenge of modern idols, i.e., cell phones. As with all TV, resolutions come much quicker and easier than real life. Crimes are rarely solved so fast, and trials are never completed in such a timely manner as they are on TV. So it is that theological awareness and discipline are rarely established and accepted so readily as they are on Living Biblically. But the show does address issues of life and faith that may be a first step for persons.
The film would have benefitted from detailing and presenting more of the relationships established between the unit and their allied Afghan forces. After the screening I attended, there was a Q&A with the men Hemsworth’s and Shannon’s characters were based on, Captain, now Major Mark Nutsch and Chief Warrant Officer Bob Pennington. While covered in the film, the full story of the relationship between the members of the unit and the leaders and members of the Alliance group was stirring and added much to the film’s impact. Also, the cultural and political differences that Nutsch, Pennington, and all members of the team had to address and overcome were as vital to the success as any of the weaponry and tactics brought to the mission. As dauntingly impossible as the scope of the mission was, and as dangerous as the combat was as depicted, more details given to these relational and cultural requirements and accomplishments, at the expense of some of the combat sequences, would have reflected better the true and amazingly successful outcome of the mission.
At their best, faith communities are devoted to one another and care for each other, at times more than they care for themselves. Members of faith communities draw strength from one another, teach and when necessary offer accountability to one another. Another commonality between armed forces units and faith communities is the devotion to the mission. Once given an assignment, the successful completion of the mission becomes the primary if not singular focus for members of a military unit or squad. Such should be the case for faith communities. In units, there is neither room nor patience for thoughts, opinions, habits or other things that distract from completing the mission as assigned. Christian faith communities would do better to follow this example and put the mission of loving and serving Christ by making disciples, above all things.
In the midst of this, perhaps the darkest hour in the nation’s history, Winston Churchill, a fiery orator with a reputation for recklessness, replaced Chamberlain. Gary Oldman is rightly receiving Oscar attention for his transformational performance as Winston Churchill. Kristin Scott Thomas also gives a strong performance as Churchill’s wife Clementine, one of the few persons the bulldog PM turned to for strength and counsel.
Experiencing, even in the slightest way, the feeling of facing such darkness offers viewers a greater understanding of what Churchill, and all of Britain, went through in this pivotal time when Britain was the last dim light in a darkening world. Winston Churchill provided much of the energy and hope for that light through his determination and the power of his oratory. Darkest Hour also reminds viewers living through the current uncertain and dark times of terrorism, aggressive despots, as well as political and social division the necessity and importance of political courage, and placing the welfare of the nation above personal or political party interests.
All Photos Courtesy of Focus Features
talked of those who may or may not be forgotten and are not really gone.
had studied the European masters as a youth and young adult and appreciated the minimalist approach to dramatic storytelling of Bergman and Federico Fellini and others. As with the great European cinematic masters, Lowery uses shot selection, silence and the time afforded by extended scenes to allow the thoughts and experiences of the viewers to grow organically rather than presenting ideas to the viewers in prepackaged form through active dialogue and cinema-graphic busyness.
when the Ghost, wearing the sheet that covered the body, begins wondering halls of the hospital. As the Ghost moves unnoticed past people in the hallways a portal of light appears on a wall. As the Ghost halts and lingers, the portal closes. Persons of faith are likely to interpret this as the opening to heaven and everlasting life. As presented, the Ghost, in death as in life, has freedom of choice, to go forward or stay back. As in life, there are consequences for the choices made. For the Ghost, the consequence is remaining in the present, even as that present will soon turn into a future that will not include the Ghost who must instead remain in a present that has lost all meaning. As hope is something of the future, a present with no future is a present with no hope.
Though the previous life of the Ghost was not one of suffering and bondage as was that of the Israelites, the Ghost refused to embrace the new life, the new opportunity, and chose to stay in the past. While allowed the choice to remain in the past, the Ghost was not allowed to live in the past. Rather than participating in life, the Ghost could only observe the lives others lived. Such existing is not truly living. Part of living is experiencing the present and anticipating the future. Persons of faith live in the present, preparing for the future that God not only desires for them, but provides and accompanies them into, if they choose to live by faith and go rather than submit to fear and seek to remain behind.
The choice to present the Ghost as a sheet with blackened eyes not only plays off the iconic image of ghosts, it represents the condition of the deceased, or anyone, when life is ruled by fear rather than lived by faith. The Apostle Paul teaches that persons of faith see God, even if only through veil, or a glass darkly. Upon death and entering God’s Kingdom the veil is removed and one views God fully, face to face. In not proceeding forward, the Ghost now sees and experiences present life as past life, only now it is seen as well through a veil, the veil of death as represented by the sheet.
