- Apr 30, 2013
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I just returned from watching this film. I am surprised there is so little discussion on this website. Mr. Rogers was after all one of the most well-known Protestant ministers ever.
Tom Hanks did a great job portraying Fred Rogers. However, I felt that trying to fit such a complex character into a Hollywood drama is a difficult task, and the film occasionally risks portraying Mr. Rogers as subtlely moralistic or intrusive, lacking a healthy sense of boundaries. Or perhaps there is that side to Mr. Rogers I haven't considered before.
Either way, this film was unsettling in that way. I also think the film tends to take the absolute value of forgiveness as a given, rather than realizing that not everybody has Christian assumptions about it's necessity- some of us are capable of realizing that life is very complicated and even people with the best of intentions will not be able to tie up all the loose ends in their life. In this way, there is a sentimentalism to this film I don't find as appealing as actually watching an old episode of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
Tom Hanks did a great job portraying Fred Rogers. However, I felt that trying to fit such a complex character into a Hollywood drama is a difficult task, and the film occasionally risks portraying Mr. Rogers as subtlely moralistic or intrusive, lacking a healthy sense of boundaries. Or perhaps there is that side to Mr. Rogers I haven't considered before.
Either way, this film was unsettling in that way. I also think the film tends to take the absolute value of forgiveness as a given, rather than realizing that not everybody has Christian assumptions about it's necessity- some of us are capable of realizing that life is very complicated and even people with the best of intentions will not be able to tie up all the loose ends in their life. In this way, there is a sentimentalism to this film I don't find as appealing as actually watching an old episode of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
