To tell a story is not that difficult. After all, we grow up surrounded by them. Listening to them, weaving them into every fabric of life. And perhaps most impressively, telling one to ourselves almost every waking moment of our existence. Telling lies.
Now, to come up with a good story, that requires some skill. And to be able to tell a great one is rare. But every once in a while, you find yourself in luck. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, a Norwegian documentary directed Benjamin Ree (The Painter and the Thief) just happens to be a masterclass in that art.
The film follows the life of Mats Steen, who is born with Duchenne — a severe type of muscular dystrophy, where the onset of muscle weakness begins at a very early age, and progresses rapidly — making it increasingly difficult for him to participate in everyday activities. As he begins to miss out on more and more in life, the smallest of things that most would take for granted, videogames become his sanctuary, especially World of Warcraft.
Growing isolated from the larger world, while his parents worry that he would never quite get to know friendship, love or what it feels like to make a difference, they nonetheless support him in what he can have, but also understand little of his online existence within the MMORPG.
At the age of 25, Mats passes away, having seemingly lived a life few would envy.
Ibelin, detective and nobleman, at your service
What follows is an astonishing story of connections made, friendships forged and lives changed, as Mats’ family begins to discover who he was, got and chose to be in the online community of WoW.
For Mats, the game was not only an escape from the cards he was dealt, but it was also a place where he got to break the shackles of his bodily limitations and be who he really wished to be, a place where his inner life could find expression.
In the guild Starlight, he was Ibelin Redmoore, a detective, a confidant, an adviser, a ladies’ man. Here he made friends, fell in love and in some cases, even altered the real lives of people he met. Here he felt safe, valued and respected.
Through retrospective interviews with family and guild members across Europe; old home videos; animations sequences based on the game and its character models; an archive of some 42,000 pages of in-game chats, locations and “emotions”; as well as a blog that he maintained in the last years of his life, Ree tells Mats’ story with incredible skill and sensibility.
“I boot up my computer, music pumping, and then I leave this world.”
Presented in large parts in his own words, the film manages to come off as both, a remarkable biography, and a window into what videogames and online communities can be, with a firm belief in the notion of ‘show, don’t tell’.
Contemplative, caring, witty, melancholic — Mats’ fears and aspirations cut deep, and at times, as he freely voices them in a world built on pixels, Ibelin feels as real.
It’s a heartbreaking and deeply affecting story, but at the same time sublimely life-affirming. And a little of that effect could have been achieved without the crafting skills of Ree and others involved in the production.
For once, a project lives up to its name. Remarkable.
Banner image via Netflix.
