A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

A true story based on the real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod, and inspired by an article on Rogers that Junod wrote for Esquire in 1998 called “Can You Say Hero?”. According to producers, and contrary to early belief, the film is not a biopic of Fred Rogers. Rather the film centers around journalist Tom Junod and his experience interviewing Rogers, and the impact it had on him. It was shot in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, with much of it right at Fred Rogers Studio.

Director Marielle Heller is longtime friends with Tom Hanks’ son Colin, and met the former at a birthday party in which she pitched him the project. Heller claims that access was fortunate because Hanks had put out the word through his agency that he wanted a break from playing real-life people (This is the 8th film he has portrayed an actual person) and to not send him those scripts.

Tom Hanks, who is arguably one of the greatest living actors, delivered a remarkable performance. Like a true actor, he prepared well. At the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Tom Hanks mentioned that he watched “hundreds of hours” of footage of Fred Rogers on set and behind the scenes in order to get into character.

Director Marielle Heller brings us an excellent story, that has a simple yet profound and unique message. Fred Rogers was a unique person who had a message of kindness and forgiveness that the world really needs to hear right now. Heller noted that Rogers “doesn’t have the dynamic nature you need for a protagonist for a movie’ and considered him “the antagonist [ ] who comes into someone’s life and flips it upside down through his philosophy and the way he lived his life.’

Whether you are familiar or unfamiliar with the true story, and we won’t get too much into the details of the plot, this is a film worth seeing. It has at its heart a message of forgiveness. The film does not delve deeply into the specifics of Roger’s Christian faith, and its message is not explicitly Christian, though the concepts of love, forgiveness, and kindness are clearly biblical. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is struggling to forgive someone. It moved me to tears. The movie alone cannot change your heart, but it can’t hurt either.

Roger’s faith is not completely overlooked either. The movie, though it shows what a kind and gentle man Fred was, goes out of its way to say he was not perfect. Mrs. Rogers shares with Tom that her husband had struggles with anger, and that one of the ways he dealt with it was to read Scripture, pray for people specifically by name, swim laps, and write letters to people.

Fred Rogers was a people person, he put people over business, and this movie does an exemplary job of conveying it. He remembered people and their specific prayer requests. What a blessing such a person is! I remember a professor I had in seminary, Dr. Jim Rosscup, who scholar though he was, he was also a man of prayer, and he loved the students. I’ll never forget that I had asked him to pray for my grandfather, and one day I ran into him in the seminary hallway and after greeting me he asked, “How is your grandfather, Angelo?”. He remembered my grandpa by name! That’s how Mr. Rogers is in this film, because that’s how he was in real life, and you get a beautiful glimpse of it here!

In the film Fred Rogers talks much about forgiveness and says “It’s hardest to forgive those we love.” It is shared that his show “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” was about giving children positive ways to deal with their feelings. Fred teaches that “there are many ways to deal with your feelings without hurting yourself or others”. Tackling the idea of justice, one of the puppets sings, “When the whole world seems so very wrong, and nothing you do seems right.” The film definitely deals with the concepts of right and wrong.

In our lost and fallen world, it often seems and often is the case that justice evades us. Though the film does not get into it, we must be assured that one day God will right all wrongs. In the meantime, we need to make sure we repent of our wrongs and make sure our account with God is right. Justice and Mercy met at the cross of His Son Jesus Christ. This film hits on the theme emotionally and powerfully, but it does not expound on the theology. At the very least though it is a conversation starter.

Mr. Rogers also talks about “the mad” [anger] inside us. He is trying to speak in a way that kids can understand. He teaches that “there is always something you can do with the mad you feel.” Indeed, this is a biblical principle. We do not just put off sin, but we must put on righteousness (Ephesians 4:22-24). Like Mr. Rogers we must renew our minds by reading Scripture and praying. We should also like him do some physical exercise, which the Bible says does profit some (1 Timothy 4:8). We should add though, we must never put our trust in our own strength, but even when we are doing Godly practices, we should do it with our eyes fixed on Christ crucified and risen, trusting fully in His strength.

This picture gets into some deep things, as did Roger’s classic TV show as Tom points out, “Death, divorce, war, it gets dark.” The show aimed to tackle real life things that are hard and that many kids have to face. Rogers understood rightly that “there’s no normal life free from pain.”

A Biblical Analysis of the Film’s Message

Without having a robust theological message, I could see how some might interpret the film as simply having a “feel good” message. Rogers wanted everyone to know they are precious. There’s no mention of repentance of sin and turning to Christ (though one of the characters does genuinely repent to one of the other characters). Without the theological foundation, the movie could be interpreted as having a message of universalism. However, I do not think that was the intention of the film, and admittedly I have not engaged in an in-depth study of Roger’s life to know how accurate they have interpreted his thoughts and beliefs. Generally speaking, though, my thinking is that Hollywood tends to be light when it comes to the Gospel. I think this film does have basic and important Christian concepts, but Christians need to be discerning and fill in the gaps.

Roger’s message that everyone is precious is true. Every human being is special. That may sound like self-esteem therapy, but the fact is every human being is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), and therefore every human being is special. Everyone needs to know their worth before God. But they also need to know that such a worth also makes them accountable to God. When we disobey God, and hurt others made in His image, He will rightly hold us accountable. Those who do not repent will perish in Hell. This is why Jesus came, to die for us and save us from our sins if we will believe in Him (John 3:16-18). The human heart left to its own is hardened and sinful (John 3:19-20). Only by the grace of God can we have the faith to believe in His salvation (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Don’t take the lack of theological grounding and clarity necessarily as a criticism of the film. Remember, we are not simply critiquing but analyzing the film as Christians, and taking the concepts it addresses and filling in the gaps with our biblical understanding. As believers we should talk about and analyze films, as well as everything in life, through a biblical lens.

Rogers at one point says, “the very same people who are good sometimes, are the very same people who are bad sometimes.” There is definitely truth there. Humans made in the image of God, both believers and unbelievers, often do things that reflect the goodness of that divine image. And those same people, both believers and unbelievers, are fallen sinners that often do bad things. The true believer should always be growing toward more Christ-likeness in the process of sanctification.

Again, the strongest theme of this film, I think is that of forgiveness and its importance in a person’s life. This is a thoroughly biblical concept. And this is not only vitally important for our relationships now, but it is eternally important for our relationship with God. The Lord Jesus said:

“but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” —Matthew 6:15

Content of possible concern

There is some strong thematic material, a brief fight and some characters yell at each other. There is some drinking and some foul language (listed below), including moderate profanity, but none of this is said by Mr. Rogers, and it seems to be used to reveal the character of certain people. There is brief cleavage, and a husband and wife are seen together in a bed, but clothed.

Fred Rogers is portrayed as a vegetarian and says, “I just can’t imagine eating anything with a mother.”

Conclusion

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is highly worth seeing. Overall, it’s clean and wholesome, and has Christian themes. The theme of forgiveness and kindness is refreshing, and the world is in big need of it. Further, it’s a movie that can be used for productive conversation afterward—expounding upon some of the themes and discussing some of the issues. Don’t forget to pray for Tom Hanks and the others actors and people behind this movie, specifically that they would know Christ for who He truly is, and receive His wonderful forgiveness and kindness!

• Profane language: Moderate— • “H*ly cr*p” • “J*sus” • “Oh my G*d” and “Oh G*d” (1 each) • h*ll (3), including “Grow the h*ll up” and “What the h*ll kind of insane question was that?” • “D*mn it”
• Vulgar/Crude language: Minor— • s-word (1) • cr*p (1) • “He’s Mister freaking Rogers” • I think I heard one “a**”
• Violence: Minor
• Drugs/Alcohol: • the journalist’s father drinks heavily and often, and is depicted as drunk once
• Nudity: • shirtless males • some cleavage
• Sex: • comment about a father committing adultery while his wife was dying • husband and wife kiss (brief)
• Occult: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.