'Life Itself' tells the story of legendary film critic Roger Ebert
'Life' shows that Ebert's greatest legacy was his courage at the end of his life.
'Life' shows that Ebert's greatest legacy was his courage at the end of his life.
Roger聽Ebert聽was probably the most widely popular film聽critic America has ever produced. His death in 2013, after a very public聽battle with cancer and a barrage of debilitating afflictions that left him聽unable to speak 鈥� or eat or drink without medical intervention 鈥� came not聽long after the publication of his memoir, 鈥淟ife Itself.鈥� That book provides聽the title and the loose framework for the documentary-cum-testimonial聽by Steve James (鈥淗oop Dreams鈥�), who combines interviews with many聽of聽Ebert鈥檚 friends, family, and colleagues with sequences of the critic聽receiving treatment in the Chicago-area hospital where he spent his last聽days.
Ebert鈥檚 wife, Chaz, who was her husband鈥檚 ballast throughout聽his ordeals, is also very much prominent in this film, which offers聽a comprehensive run-through of his career, starting with his college聽newspaper days and moving on to the Chicago Sun-Times and the TV show with Gene Siskel, which started out small and then went聽national. James spends a lot of time (probably too much) delving into the聽rivalry between聽Ebert聽and Siskel. (He even provides outtakes from the show聽where the two are sniping each other; their antipathy, for much of their careers, was no act.)
The show was criticized by some for degenerating movie criticism into a聽quick-fix entertainment, but, compared with the slacker reaches of movie聽reviewing today, the show looks like the Oxford debate society. (My main聽objection to the show was that it didn鈥檛 offer a thumbs sideways聽option 鈥� most movies, after all, are neither good nor bad.)聽
Ebert, with whom I was friendly, had an ego as big as all outdoors, but,聽unlike most such people, he could also be tremendously generous, both to聽young filmmakers and to aspiring critics. When he could no longer appear聽on television, he doubled down on his writing (and blogging) and wrote聽some of his best criticism. His clear, sensible prose will probably hold up better than some of the more frantic efforts of his contemporaries. His聽greatest legacy, however, as this film documents, was his courage in the聽endgame of his life. Grade: B+ (Rated R for brief sexual images/nudity and language.)