The documentary “Life Itself” shows film critic Roger Ebert in a less than flattering light. In a society that celebrates youth and vitality, some might find it shocking that we see Ebert’s face ravaged by cancer. We see shots of his final days when he’s unable to walk or talk. Yet he was able to think and write clearly. These end-of-life clips are interspersed with video from his earlier days, including outtakes of TV shows where he fought with rival film critic Gene Siskel. The film explores the caustic and competitive relationship between Siskel and Ebert who become like brothers as the years go by.
Siskel had kept his affliction with brain cancer a secret, and in contrast Ebert decided he wanted transparency. At the same time, he wanted the documentary to be a movie that he would enjoy seeing himself. “Life Itself” is certainly transparent.
I never knew that much about Ebert’s personal life. I didn’t know that his wife and the love of his life was a woman named Chaz. The film includes an interview with Chaz who recalls how her husband signed a do-not-resuscitate order when she wasn’t around. He knew she would not approve.
This film might make some of us appreciate good health and not take it for granted. Ebert kept working almost until the end, and he found joy in film reviewing and blogging. Let us also find things that keep our hearts and minds engaged.
“Life Itself” will air again on CNN on Friday, Jan. 9, at 9 and 11 p.m. Eastern and 6 and 8 p.m. Pacific time.
More about the film: http://www.ebertmovie.com/ and http://www.rogerebert.com/life-itself
QUOTES BY ROGER EBERT (https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/13300.Roger_Ebert?page=1):
“To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.”
“We laugh, that we may not cry.”
“All I require of a religion is that it be tolerant of those who do not agree with it.”
“It is said that the human brain divides its functions. The right brain is devoted to sensory impressions, emotions, colors, music. The left brain deals with abstract thought, logic, philosophy, analysis. My definition of a great movie: While you’re watching it, it engages your right brain. When it’s over, it engages your left brain.”
“Because we are human, because we are bound by gravity and the limitations of our bodies, because we live in a world where the news is often bad and the prospects disturbing, there is a need for another world somewhere, a world where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers live.”
“Of what use is freedom of speech to those who fear to offend?”
“At the end of the day, some authors will endure and most, including some very good ones, will not. Why do I think reading is important? It is such an effective medium between mind and mind. We think largely in words. A medium made only of words doesn’t impose the barrier of any other medium. It is naked and unprotected communication. That’s how you get pregnant. May you always be so.”
“We feel the same emotions for our ideas as we do for the real world, which is why we can cry while reading a book, or fall in love with movie stars.”
“In Dallas for the premier of ‘9 to 5’, I had an uncanny experience, and on the plane home to Chicago I confessed it to Siskel: I had been granted a private half hour with Dolly Parton, and as we spoke I was filled with a strange ethereal grace. This was not spiritual, nor was it sexual. It was healing and comforting. Gene listened and said, ‘Roger, I felt the exact same thing during my interview with her.’ We looked at each other. What did this mean? Neither one of us ever felt that feeling again. From time to time we would refer to it in wonder.”
“The very fact of snow is such an amazement.”
“If I were on death row, my last meal would be from Steak ’n Shake. If I were to take President Obama and his family to dinner and the choice was up to me, it would be Steak ’n Shake. If the pope was to ask where he could get a good plate of spaghetti in America, I would reply, “Your Holiness, have you tried the Chili Mac or the Chili 3-Ways?” A downstate Illinois boy loves the Steak ’n Shake as a Puerto Rican loves rice and beans, an Egyptian loves falafel, a Brit loves bangers and mash, a Finn loves reindeer jerky, and a Canadian loves doughnuts. This doesn’t involve taste. It involves a deep-seated conviction that a food is right, has always been right, and always will be.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9ud1HUHgug
