This was a sweet homage to Fred Rogers. I enjoyed how Benjamin Wagner shared how his life was influenced by being a neighbor and friends with him. What Mr Rogers' activism did is to give voice and space for allowing feelings to be acknowledged in pubic television. The way in which he spoke and moved was very mindful, slow, gentle -- a Zen kind of approach without saying so. Growing up in the 70's, I mostly watched Sesame St and The Electric Company and neither of these shows addressed what Mr Rogers was offering in his.
The majority of the movie focus on people who were influenced by him AND also had a level of celebrity status: Tim Russert, Linda Ellerbee, etc. One of them, Bo Lozoff, is someone who Mr Rogers considers as one of his heroes. Bo is an author and had created an ashram called, Kindness House. He did a lot of outreach work focusing on prison inmates and his ashram was meant to allow these inmates to have a place to go to when they got out. Mr. Rogers was apparently a big fan of his work and used to buy his books and give them away. He has also gone on record to say that he considers Bo Lozoff as one of his heroes. I since found out that Bo had to leave the organization he created with his wife bec there were many instances where he did not abide by the principles of kindness while he was a leader of the organization. In addition, there were also sexual misconducts in which he engaged in. To his credit, he acknowledged his shortcomings and therefore left the organization. (He moved to Hawaii and died in motorcycle accident in 2012. I leave to the reader/viewer to discern Mr Rogers' discernment for regarding Bo Lozoff as one his heroes.)
Overall, the movie strongly speaks against the "ills" of media is and exalts the hero, Mr Rogers'. It is wise to remember that the gifts/virtues of Mr Rogers' life could not and would not exist at all were it not for the so-called "ills" of the TV/media. For every yin there is a corresponding yang.
The majority of the movie focus on people who were influenced by him AND also had a level of celebrity status: Tim Russert, Linda Ellerbee, etc. One of them, Bo Lozoff, is someone who Mr Rogers considers as one of his heroes. Bo is an author and had created an ashram called, Kindness House. He did a lot of outreach work focusing on prison inmates and his ashram was meant to allow these inmates to have a place to go to when they got out. Mr. Rogers was apparently a big fan of his work and used to buy his books and give them away. He has also gone on record to say that he considers Bo Lozoff as one of his heroes. I since found out that Bo had to leave the organization he created with his wife bec there were many instances where he did not abide by the principles of kindness while he was a leader of the organization. In addition, there were also sexual misconducts in which he engaged in. To his credit, he acknowledged his shortcomings and therefore left the organization. (He moved to Hawaii and died in motorcycle accident in 2012. I leave to the reader/viewer to discern Mr Rogers' discernment for regarding Bo Lozoff as one his heroes.)
Overall, the movie strongly speaks against the "ills" of media is and exalts the hero, Mr Rogers'. It is wise to remember that the gifts/virtues of Mr Rogers' life could not and would not exist at all were it not for the so-called "ills" of the TV/media. For every yin there is a corresponding yang.