A Life Well Lived

Usually, the movies provide us with Three Acts. The First Act sets up the characters and the plot. The Second Act takes them into the direction that the movie wants to go. It makes the plot statement. The Third Act is the resolution. The characters find out what the movie is about and the choices of the filmmakers gives the movie and the audience closure. Sometimes, though, there are other Acts that a canny filmmaker will sneak in on you. We have the Prologue, which can touch on the subject while teasing the audience to stick around. And, then, there is the Epilogue, the final statement. Just when you thought the movie had made its mark at the end of Act Three, here, sailing in out of the blue, is the Last Word On The Subject. A good movie has most of these, a great movie has all of these. Roger Ebert understood cinema, perhaps, better than anyone of his generation outside of Hollywood. His remarkable life was lived in Acts. A new documentary, based on his autobiography, ''Life Itself'', just premiered on CNN. It is a favorite right now to win the Oscar for Best Documentary. The film, superb in its presentation, divides the man in chapters, like his book does. However, watching it, Roger Ebert, the filmgoers best friend, seemed to me to be best described as a man with Three Acts. With a Prologue and Epilogue of course.........Fade In........ PROLOGUE: The Past and the Present---- 2013--- meet. The film opens with Roger Ebert in his last months. For several years, he has fought a courageous battle with cancer. Cancer of the jaw. In 2006, he had his jaw taken out and he had no lower face below his lips. There literally was a hole in his face. As we ease into the story, Roger is in the hospital again. Since we know in advance that he will shortly die, the audience is aware of what the ending of the story will be when the story begins. Aided by his loyal wife, Chaz, Roger gamely goes about the rigors with holding onto life. We see the struggles with feeding tubes, the painful immobility of someone who can no longer walk. Sympathy, naturally, is established. So, is the audiences admiration for the man. Clearly, here is someone who has fought a dastardly enemy and will not give up. His wife will not give up. But, life is slipping away from him. Soon, he will be dead. We know it, so does he. The audience is then shot back in time to his youth. A chubby only child of parents that he adored. His love of the written word. And, his true love in life [ until he meets Chaz many years later]. The love affair with sitting in a dark theater, not too far back, with a sky high ceiling, watching the images on a forty foot screen turn into the dreams of a movie lover............. FIRST ACT: As a young man, Roger ingests movies. They occupy the part in his DNA that drives the engine of his soul. But, Roger, with his brilliant mind, divides movies into two parts: the viewer and the essayist. He can enjoy or hate a movie from the audience position but he is determined to tell you why. Here, he shines above the rest. Soon after getting a reporter's job at the Chicago Sun Times, their movie critic retires. Roger is handed the baton to make the movie critic a respectable trade. Probably astounding himself, he is a natural at it. More than a natural, he shines. Rather than being the standard film reviewer who secretly has contempt for the audience, Roger goes the other direction. He becomes the guy next to you in the movie theater or bar stool. A film pal. Coupled with his amazing ability as a wordsmith, soon he is attracting attention for his endeavors. Within a decade of starting his job, the Pulitzer Prize people come calling with their award for him. He is the first film critic to ever be honored with it. With his local celebrity comes an active social life. The bar scene in Chicago in the late 60's and early 70's is the golden time to be young and full of piss and vinegar. He commands an audience with his saloon friends, as every night he flies with the spirits at his favorite watering hole, the legendary ''O'Rourke's''. He drinks with Mike Royko and Studs Terkel, hobnobs with the Second City crowd--- including, a young ball of manic energy named John Belushi----, soaks up the suds with movie stars, and becomes a mini King Of Chicago. Naturally, he has his romantic adventures with the fairer sex. Everyone from bar pals to women that are ''scarlet of profession.'' Roger rides high, both in job and social life. But, the alcohol takes its toll. He is given to benders. Soon, he realizes what every hard drinker does: either you stop and admit you are an alcoholic, or, you die. In August, 1979, Roger Ebert took his last drink. He would never drink again......... Also, with new-found sobriety, comes new-found fame. And, the catalyst of his ascension will be joining forces with his sworn enemy across town, the dastardly Gene Siskel......... SECOND ACT: Gene Siskel wrote for the rival paper in town, the Chicago Tribune. Gene was a couple of years younger than Roger but seemed to have a world of experience for someone so young. He hung at the Playboy mansion with Hugh Hefner, enjoyed his times with the women. Where Roger was overweight and wore glasses, Gene was slim and good-looking. He had a commanding personality and he was not shy about finding the weak spots in someone who crossed him. His writing style was more ''man on the street'' reporting than the smooth insights of Roger's essays. In short, Roger was the better writer but Gene was the better talker, a talent that served him well on television. When, in 1975, WTTW in Chicago had an idea of doing a monthly movie review show, they went to both these gentlemen and asked them what they thought of working together. The answer was simple: they did not like each other and never spoke to each other at film screenings. There was a big, frosty dislike. How could this succeed on TV? The producer of the proposed show, Thea Flaum, deflected their question. She saw the potential sparks that might fly with the pairing of these two. Soon, ''Opening Soon At A Theater Near You'' [ later changed to ''Sneak Previews'', and made into a weekly show] came out in November of 1975. The first shows were underwhelming. Neither seemed comfortable with the new show. There were no sparks, only mild disagreements. A gentlemens disagreement. Hardly the thing to base a show on. To their credit, both Roger and Gene saw the flaws, and through time, they found their chemistry. Most times they agreed, but, when they didn't, then came the sparks. Word got around PBS stations around the country about this new show that talked movies and the odd-looking men who didn't look like they belonged on TV. Ratings climbed all over the country, and, slowly, this reluctant duo realized that they had a hit working as a team. But, what never changed was the personal dislike they had for each other. They were competitors, always trying to one up each other. Both thought they were right in their reviews and thought the other was wrong. Grudging respect would come in time. Also, more money and more fame. They left PBS in 1982 and went to the Tribune Company. With large stations all over America, Siskel & Ebert [ so, decreed by a coin toss, much to Ebert's annoyance] became household names. They would appear as themselves on Carson and Letterman. Be spoofed in ''Spy Magazine''. In a very short time, they became the most powerful film critics in the world. A ''thumbs up or down'' verdict, which became their signature, was much valued or much feared about the studios. Critics back then could make or break a movie. So, Roger and Gene sailed through the Eighties on an ever-expanding ride on the stardom rollercoaster. And, along with their success came an easing of their feelings with each other. They always respected each other. Now, they found out that they actually liked each other. As the years progressed--- and each man found a wife and Gene had kids---- the warm feelings deepened between them. They would always be competitive and needle each other. But, they also grew to love one another as friends. In 1999, when Gene Siskel succumbed to his cancer, Roger Ebert lost a professional soulmate  and a caring friend. For his remaining years, Roger, when he could still speak prior to 2006, would well up slightly with tears when talking about his beloved sparring partner.......... THIRD ACT: Chaz Ebert. Roger would meet his personal soulmate and future wife at an AA meeting. Both had problems with the bottle, so, both knew deep emotional pain and loneliness. But, Chaz, an attorney, came from a big family. She had children of her own from a previous marriage and had grandchildren. Roger, being an only child, and approaching fifty, knew instinctively what he was searching for all of his adult life. A family. He was beginning to fear that he would spend the rest of his life alone. He longed for love. And, Chaz was his lifesaver. She was black and he was white but both saw beyond the problems that some would have with this union. They were a united front. Both their families had some misgivings about the relationship. However, after both sides had met the other party, all of the tension blew away. Roger was beloved by his new step-children and grandchildren. He became ''Grandpa Roger'' and took to the kids with a love which might have surprised even him, a man who never had children. While he would continue in his role as elder statesman of the film criticism world, the home hearth replaced movies as his true love in life. He and Chaz traveled together to film festivals all over the world. With the passing of Gene Siskel, his professional partner, Roger deepened his love with his personal partner. And, when the cancer first struck him in 1997, Chaz was by his side. As she was in 2002 when it came back. And, in 2006 when he got stricken again, this time forcing the removal of his jaw and stopping him from speaking and eating. Chaz Ebert became, with Roger's illness, the dominant partner. She was part cheerleader and part ass-kicker. She loved and supported him as he went from one health issue to another, never flagging in her spirit and optimism. There were times, certainly, when his pain would become her pain. But, as anyone who has taken care of a loved one will tell you, the caretaker finds a strength, an inner strength, that was never thought to be there. Seeing her cheerleading him on made Roger more determined to beat his enemy that was eating away at his body. And, for a few short years, Roger won the battle. Instead of talking, his voice took to print and brightened the cyberworld with his blogs and his accounts on Twitter and Facebook. He had a machine that spoke for him. All he had to do was type the words and the voice on the machine did the rest. His words and thoughts became more precious to be absorbed. And, Roger was the first person to say that Chaz was the reason behind this. She became his Muse, the strong woman behind the man. It cannot be thought of otherwise than to say that Roger Ebert was kept alive by the love and comfort of Chaz and her family. The lonely boy had found the end of the rainbow with Family.......... EPILOGUE: The End.The closing scenes are heartbreaking. In a fictional movie, this is the time when the filmmaker goes for the heartstrings. Here, in real life instead of reel life, reality cannot be rewritten for the audiences approval. Roger is dying. The last few weeks of March, 2013, find him finally surrendering in his battle for life. His final emails to the makers of his documentary show stark realization that he is on his final road, preparing for death. Wisely, the cameras retreat and only his wife is speaking for him. She talks about the last day, a man surrounded by a loving family, holding his hand as he breathes his last. When, the last scene does happen, a beautiful calmness fills the room. Roger has taken flight of this life itself and is on his next journey. No special effects or trumpets blaring. A dignity farewell from a most dignified man....... Fade Out.......