The Remarkable Life of Ibelin , 2024.
Directed by Benjamin Ree.
Featuring Mats Steen, Kelsey Ellison, Zoe Croft, Paul Wild, and Elena Pitsiaeli.
SYNOPSIS:
Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer, died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. His parents mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life, when they started receiving messages from online friends around the world.
As someone born with muscular dystrophy, something that often left me isolated and retreating into the Internet and gaming for socializing and escapism, there was probably nothing in the world that could have prepared me for Benjamin Ree’s The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, a documentary about Norwegian World of Warcraft player Mats Steen (Lord Ibelin Redmoore being his created character’s name in the fantasy MMO.)
Diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (not exactly the same as my condition but close enough in many areas), he didn’t let it stop him from building deep connections online and living an otherwise positive, inspiring life. To be fair, there isn’t much that could be done to prepare anyone for how emotionally shattering this film is and how crucial it is to get a firmer grasp on disabled lives, online communities, and to a less important but also fascinating degree, gaming as more than a time-wasting hobby.
Now deceased (and gone far too soon in 2014 at 25), Mats’ loving parents and sister were left access to his email account (Mats seemed to know his body was failing) to not only alert the Starlight World of Warcraft community he was a kind soul and vital presence in, but to show that despite this disease limiting his life in many aspects, he did find joy, connection, a hobby, an escape to a fantasy world where he could be exactly who he wanted to be (his character was role-played as a detective, which his close pals, in hindsight, seem to think was an intentional choice to get to know and support fellow gamers in this digital world who might also have been lonely or have problems in life), and even what it’s like to love someone.
In addition to hiring a voice actor we are told sounded similar to Mats to read his final blog as a source of narration, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin also has the beautiful, heartstrings-pulling touch of hiring animators to re-create moments and memories of playing the game with his friends, now treated more like cinematic cut-scenes. The material is sensitively handled, honoring his life and what he meant to these people, while also sharply edited and aware of when to cut back to footage of Mats in person for juxtaposition and gut-wrenching, emotional impact.
Among those interviewed are a love interest his age whom he had clearly developed romantic feelings for yet was afraid to divulge to her (or anyone for that matter) his identity, and a mother struggling to connect with her autistic son. In the latter’s case, he encouraged them to connect over World of Warcraft, and they all became close. The former situation was naturally much more complicated, as Mats was devastatingly aware that an in-person relationship likely had no chance of happening (in my heart, I like to believe that, since this connection lasted for years and since they were teenagers, she would have done everything possible to see if it could work.)
Mats was a shy person, whereas his character Ibelin was the exact opposite, and an avatar for presumably everything he wished he could be in person. And while I don’t want to speak for an entire group, that shyness and insecurity from being born with a degenerative muscular disease feels commonplace. From the first minute, I found myself identifying with Mats, who was only born roughly a week before me (as a child, there is a photo of him wearing a The Lion King T-shirt, which I’m almost positive is the first movie I saw in theaters) to an intense degree that simply had me crying my eyes out throughout the entire movie. That’s not hyperbole.
Even the reason I don’t play video games much anymore is that, at a certain point, the disease regresses the physical mobility of the hands so much that reaching key buttons becomes impossible to do, which is what Mats struggled to do toward the end of his life. Still deeply nervous to tell anyone about his condition, naturally, they don’t understand why he has become less efficient at the combat aspects of the game, which raises tensions for everyone. I don’t know if I should love this movie or hate it for forcing me to essentially relive what it was like to slowly lose that mobility to do something I love, but I also feel less alone having seen someone else go through something like that.
It is impossible to review The Remarkable Life of Ibelin without getting sidetracked talking about my personal life. Again, every few minutes, something is revealed about Mats that relates to me in a major way. The very act of watching it (right down to his comfort flirting in a digital space where there are no eyes on the physical form and where you have no idea what the other person might be thinking) felt like a dissection of my own personality and aspects of my life that was, of course, beautiful to watch unfold.
Through The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Mats and his gaming avatar will have hopefully put the rest the ludicrous notion that anything that happens online is not the real world or that these friendships are less meaningful to one “in real life,” which is nonsensical, stupid, inaccurate phrasing. I only wish that Mats had to get to meet the people closest to him; it’s cruel of life to deny him that chance to see that the right people (and he certainly made some amazing friends) would have treated him in person with that same amount of respect, and in the case of someone else, possibly even reciprocate love. However, I also respect that World of Warcraft/Starlight was his world and meant everything to him.
This documentary means everything to me. It’s also not just for me; The Remarkable Life of Ibelin needs to be seen by everyone to better understand the importance of online connections and those born with diseases such as muscular dystrophy; we want all the same things able-bodied people do, and our abilities shouldn’t be underestimated.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
