The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: Movie Review

Director: Benjamin Ree

Remarkable in its empathy, but less so its supposition that online communities are thriving and doing good things, director Benjamin Ree's The Remarkable Life of Ibelin follows what happens next for a family left bereft of a son, ripped prematurely away by a disease.

Diagnosed with Duchenne's disease early on in life, Mats Steen finds himself confined to a wheelchair, gradually cut off from his own family and left with only his computer to nourish him daily.

As the degenerative muscular disease continues to lay waste to him, Mats spends some 20,000 hours inside World of Warcraft, the online multiplayer game that millions have heard of. But after his death, Mats leaves his parents his password to his blog and they post a message not expecting many to see.

However, what emerges from their final message surprises them.

Ree's story uses archival home video footage, animation and machinima to bring Mats' world to life. While its beginning makes it clear this is a story without a happy ending for Mats, the film's more about celebration of a life and the impact one person can have.

To that end, the filmmakers access thousands of hours of Mats' interactions in the game, where he was a buff character called Ibelin, who was prone to drinking, chatting up women and living a better life than reality could afford him.

Perhaps there's a naivete here at play that parents these days wouldn't be aware of the value and esteem of computer games to their children, perhaps Ree simply wants to use the cinematic forum to remind them of the power of connection and that basic message, but there is an innocence at play here that brings a level of poignancy to the daily recreations of Steen's in-game life.

TV, games and literature are littered with messages that one person can make a difference and perhaps The Remarkable Life of Ibelin does little to add to the pantheon of messaging. But what it does do is show a human touch to a familiar story that's steeped in tragedy.

It's a subtle reminder to do good wherever you go, wherever you live in times that ache with unsettled evil lurking.

This film is playing as part of the 2024 Whanau Marama New Zealand International Film Festival. For more details, visit nziff.co.nz