Jack of Harts

I watched Mister Rogers this weekend. I grew up watching his show, and it really does feel like I got to see him again this weekend. Tom Hanks did a very good job nailing his mannerisms and voice. The movie begins and ends with the beginning and ending of the TV show, and we see many scenes from it all through the movie, all acted out by Tom Hanks. And in the credits we see an actual scene from the actual show. It took me longer than I want to admit to realize that.

The main meat of the movie is based on the real life story of a reporter tasked to do an interview of Mister Rogers, and of course he doesn’t believe the guy really is as nice as he seems. And Mister Rogers spends the movie talking to him, on and off, just the way he does to all the children he talks to everyday. And that shows the secret of the show that made it work. Because as Mister Rogers talked to the children, he also talked to the adults watching with them. He talked to us about our feelings, about how to express them, and how to face them. How children deal with them, and how adults deal with them. And how we deal with forgiveness.

It was a good movie. I loved it. I got to see Mister Rogers again.