I was going to the movies Thursday afternoon when I checked the Drudge Report for any news on the North Korean crisis. I know, one of their missiles couldn't hit Guam, let alone the main land U.S., but they could cause all sorts of other mischief that could have us stumble into war. At the top left hand corner of the page were a series of headlines about the crisis, but as I scrolled down there was a photo of a familiar, bespectacled, roly poly man. Bellow was the simple headline: "Ebert Dead."
Roger Ebert was the film critic for the Chicago Sun Times for 46 years, and co-hosted, along with the late Gene Siskel, a TV show for over 30 years that ran under various names that popularized film criticism. He was the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize, and both he and his partner in cinematic crime were greatly influential on many a budding film critic, including yours truly.
Ebert was born and raised a Catholic. Though he had strayed from the pious orthodoxy of his youth, he always identified himself as Catholic. I must say, while I didn't always agree with his views on religion or film, he was always fair. I remember a review he did of the film Mass Appeal, a favorite of many liberal Catholics. While he sympathized with the point of view of the protagonists, he felt the opposition were treated like caricatures when the more traditional position deserved a fairer hearing. Thus he gave it a "Thumbs Down," much to Siskel's surprise. He also gave a strongly positive review of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, when that film was accused of being anti-Semitic and too violent (he did feel it deserved an NC-17 for the violence, but didn't necessarily think the explicitness was out of place). He was a man of the left who never let his political convictions stop him from saying a movie wasn't any good, no matter how much its heart bled.
I know some people who thought he could come off as a bit pompous or as a know it all (I can't say that I was one of them). A montage of outtakes from the 1980's that can be found on You Tube shows him to be viciously witty, and a tad cruel to his less articulate co-host. But there was a humanity to his critical approach that showed a sensitivity to actors and subjects that taught me that to review a film is not simply a matter of understanding the technical aspects of the cinematic arts, but that you have to allow yourself to feel; that the emotional response to a film was just as important, more so even, than the intellectual considerations.
So I went to the movies this afternoon, but couldn't quite get myself to write a review. I will though, in spite of the fact that I was distracted a bit once I shut my phone off and the credits rolled. I will write a review, just, not right now. I never met Roger Ebert, of course, but in a way I felt like he had been my teacher; he and Gene Siskel both. So, I mourn as for a lost mentor. I pray for him, and his widow, Chaz.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen
Look here for a complete obituary,
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