What I had in mind was a very inspiring documentary of a very productive movie critic, but Life Itself was quite blunt and transparent of who he was. Most of documentary and biography movie I watched was pretty obvious on complimenting the subject of the movie. They left out some negative facts and maybe decided not to include it in the movie. Life Itself blatantly tells how Ebert was once an alcoholic, a competitive, workaholic and a pretty self-centered man.
Narrated by a computerized voice (Ebert’s tool to speak after he was paralyzed by cancer), Life Itself tells us from Ebert was still a kid, grow up being a writer, an editor of a newspaper, an intern of Chicago Sun Times and a movie critic for years, and a celebrity after showing up in a TV show reviewing movies. Many testimonials by his co-workers and best friends.
It also tells how Ebert have a rival that ended up being his co-partner in a successful TV show, Gene Siskel. The footage shows that though both didn’t like each other, forced to be in the same show but somehow they discussion can be a heated talk. Interesting enough, they have the footage when it was pretty clear that Ebert didn’t like his rival and tried to control every dialog when they were shooting the opening. Like many rivals, they think they hated each other but ended up have a bond and especially Ebert didn’t realized Siskel’s value to him until he was gone. I wish there are two movie critic legends now that I can watch in a show, I wish I was one of their viewers back then.
After showing Ebert’s competitive side, comes the day when Ebert marries the love of his life, Chaz. Married when Ebert was 50 years old and their differences of their skin was obvious. It might not be a fairy tale, but both needed each other and proved soften Ebert. Their bond especially showed after cancer have paralyzed Ebert.
Instead of making the documentary to be in a full linear story, Life Itself sometimes goes back and forth of the details of his life, which makes it rather ineffective. Perhaps 2 hours is too long or felt too long. But if you’re a fan, the documentary gave enough reason to admire Roger Ebert, you won’t mind. I personally respect Steve James for showing Ebert as he was. It’s great that even after he couldn’t speak or walk on his own, he still can channel his voice through writing on his website. Ebert also still was a very positive person during his cancer days, still joking and oddly enough seem to always smile with his jaw condition. Talent maybe were gifted to him (as he said to be able to write a great writing for only 30 minutes), but his persistence and productivity (and hard work) especially what made him to be great.
Final Score : 7
