Life Itself (Steve James, 2014): USA

Reviewed by Mimmi Karlsson. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2015.

Life Itself is a documentary about Roger Ebert, an American film critic, screenwriter and journalist, who died in April 2013. The movie, made by Steve James, is a mixture of old photos, interviews, Roger’s friends’ comments, moments in the hospital and much more. Steve tells us a story about a stubborn man who lived his dream with writing film reviews and also had a tv-show together with his best friend Gene Siskel where they talked and discussed about movies. I loved to watch their relationship because it was so special. They were very close and could argue, fight and make fun of each other. I couldn’t understand how they could put up with each other but they both clearly loved movies and made it work just fine.

Roger was born 1942 and from 2005 until his death, he lived with cancer which cost him his lower jaw. He then couldn’t speak or eat normally again but with help from a computer he could still make himself heard. We got to see some moments at the hospital that were very personal and Chaz, Roger’s wife, didn’t want those moments in the film but Roger did. He didn’t want the film to be glamorous, he wanted it to be real, which it was. The documentary was very touching because of those moments.

I was amazed how passionate Roger was about movies and other media, and also how happy he seemed in his last months. His condition was very critical from time to time but still he lived for much longer than the doctors thought he would. He continued to work with film reviews even after his jaw bone was removed. He was smiling at the hospital and making jokes to the people around him.

The film was so real and honest and after two hours, with tears in my eyes, I could say to myself that I admire Roger Ebert for everything he did. He seemed to be such a nice person and many people in the documentary said how he had inspired them and motivated them through life. I have already recommended this film to people because I want them to get a chance to be motivated, to do what they love , exactly how I felt when watching it.