Last week, when I heard that Roger Ebert had died, it came as a big shock, and I started to wonder why his death had affected me so, since I had never met or spoken to him. There is the obvious reason—that for years I had read and enjoyed his movie reviews, identifying with the Midwestern common sense of his critiques, which were laced with humor. Sometimes I didn’t agree with his opinions, but he always made me see where he was coming from.
But there’s another reason for missing him: his upbeat attitude as he battled cancer continually astonished me. For many people, to suffer a so-called “disfiguring” surgery and then to lose their voice would give reason for disappearing from public life. Instead, he barely skipped a beat, finding new outlets in social media, as well as continuing his online movie reviews. I’m sure he had his dark days, but in the several times I saw him interviewed on TV, the joy in his eyes was real. I learned as much from that joy in the face of adversity as from reading many years of movie revues.
In his book “Life Itself: A Memoir,” Ebert said, “I believe that if, at the end, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. 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. I didn’t always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”
We meet gurus in strange places, and I think that in the future, every time life throws me a curve ball, I will think of Roger Ebert.
His last review, published on April 6, was of Terrence Malick’s “To the Wonder,” and you might also want to check out this compilation of some of Ebert’s “top films.”
Lastly, here’s an interview with Ebert about film criticism, including his explanation of the origin of the “two thumbs up” rating system.
