The wisest words of Brad Bird, in "Ratatouille"

Anton Ego

Last Sunday, I enjoyed watching  Ratatouille an animated movie (2007) produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It's not just a film about a rat who cooks. But the film's central character isn't a rat or even a chef....

I feel it is Anton Ego, a food critic, known in the reviewer's circle as "The Grim Eater". Anton Ego is an unscrupulously hard-to-please reviewer. His gaunt physique most likely stems from the fact that if he doesn't love what he is eating...he doesn't swallow.

I don't want to write the whole story here, but give only the last food review that Anton Ego gives for Gusteau's restaurant (finest in France, previously downgraded by Anton Ego).

What follows is the text of what Anton Ego comes to realize in the end of Ratatouille. After spending a lifetime taking a cruel pleasure in proclaiming that very few people can actually cook and panning the careers of many, Ego (his telling name) is surprised to find that a simple Rat with a not so simple talent, can cook. He surmises in the sagacious voice of Peter O’Toole:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: 'Anyone can cook'. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more."

There are two main points in this speech that really touched my heart. Hope you all enjoyed it too.