There is no way I can write objectively about Roger Ebert. As a slightly larger bespectacled cinephile Chicagoan, I tended to resonate with the man often. Hell, I have parents with almost identical personalities. However, that should in no way diminish what documentary director Steve James has created. Life Itself pulls no punches about its subject, including his family, his illnesses, and his relationship with Gene Siskel/At the Movies. Life Itself is direct and honest, but with a joyous spin, much like its star.
The documentary gets the most out of its 2 hour running time. We get as close to a full picture of Ebert the man: from his early Urbana upbringing, his life at the Chicago Sun-Times, his frenemy relationship with Gene Siskel, his time on At the Movies, and his last days. In addition, we get soundbites from all types of people falling into his orbit: other movie critics, Chaz (Ebert’s wife), the Siskel family, Sun Times Colleagues, Producers, and even high-profile auteurs like Martin Scorcese. As the movie rolls on, you realize how far-reaching this only child from small-town Illinois became, and how gifted he was at spoken/written word and touching other people’s lives.
Life Itself is rarely devoid of joy and humor, even in Ebert’s lowest moments. However, I was unprepared for some of the little moments the movie critic provided for some up and comers. I knew the man was a champion of the little films (the director of his documentary, Steve James, gained rapid notoriety because of Ebert’s crusade for him), but he found many unique ways to touch people in search of inspiration. Life Itself’s most touching moments involve what appear to be many passionate filmmakers telling stories about a little gift or a simple hello that drove them forward through the tough times. The happiness set up early in the documentary helps infuse Life Itself with an unbreakable power that even death cannot stop. In his last days, when he could no longer speak, Ebert fully embraced Internet criticism as a new medium, and slowly evolved his movie blog into a contemplation of a life lived and memories to help a new group of fans. Ebert clearly understood that his zeal for life and film would be evident in this blog, and that dying could not prevent him from leaving a lasting impact on the world he loved being a part of. Life Itself could easily have become a funeral eulogy, but instead Steve James so captures Ebert’s zeitgeist that James just gives Ebert another medium to live life upon: the medium he built himself upon.
Life Itself might have played better as a miniseries. The many facets of Ebert’s life could each easily fill up an entire documentary. His escapades with Gene Siskel take up most of the screentime, but their relationship is so intense and complicated that Life Itself is probably going to end up the appetizer on the many shows/films about At the Movies. Steve James does a good job playing the ‘opposites attract’ angle and how their relationship was fueled by non-resolution. I would love to see a movie about Chaz and Roger’s courtship and marriage, since its interracial and happened so late in life. In addition, Chaz Ebert is every bit deserving of the turns of phrase Roger bestows upon her over the course of the film: she is an amazing woman who deserves her own story to be told. Life Itself portrays Roger Ebert as one of the erudite elites in society, but because of equally powerful influences on the man, he was able to transcend into something of a legend.
The lessons I take the most from Roger Ebert are twofold: words are powerful, and gestures mean something. Life Itself puts these and many other lessons lived in on display of a man as fondly remembered as any other in society because of his work and actions. Under the Chicago Theatre resides only one star on the Chicago Walk of Fame: the great Roger Ebert. Now when asked why, I don’t have to explain, I can just say see Life Itself and you’ll understand.