The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024) Review

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024)
Director: Benjamin Ree
Starring: Mats Steen, Mia Steen, Zoe Croft, Kelsey Ellison, Ed Larkin, John Andrew Mclay, Elena Pitsiaeli, Sebastian Tjørstad, Paul Wild 

In 2014, a 25-year-old Norwegian man named Mats Steen passed away, his life claimed by the rare muscular condition that had afflicted him from birth. His parents thought he had lived his life alone, unhappy and unable to build meaningful friendships because of his physical limitations, but they had no idea of the connections he was forming and the impact he was having on people around the world through roleplaying in the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) ‘World of Warcraft‘. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is his story, up until now known only to a privileged few. 

Benjamin Ree’s documentary opens with a montage of his subject’s early and briefly happy life constructed from home movies and voiceovers from Ree’s family, before we venture into the online world where Mats/Ibelin’s other life is reconstructed in ‘Warcraft’-style animation.

In a wonderful tribute to Ibelin and his roleplaying, “Every line of dialogue is written by Mats and his friends”. The film reconstructs the in-game chat history with voice actors, and further fills in the gaps and dials up the emotional power by including lengthy extracts from Mats’ disarmingly honest blog where he often processed living with his disability and regularly presented his hopes, dreams and frustrations. There is sometimes a bit of a clash of methods when delivering information in this film, with interviewees’ voiceovers and re-voiced game chat occasionally drowning each other out, but the mixed media used in this documentary is generally pretty effective.

The film, as with any good story well told, is built around dramatic peaks and troughs, often signified by a stark transition from the in-game world to our own. Every time the documentary brings you crashing back down to mundane, unforgiving reality from the limitless escapist fantasy world, from Ibelin running carefree through virtual fields to his distorted, prone body which has lost the ability to move anything but his fingers, it is devastating.

“In this other world, a girl wouldn’t see a wheelchair or anything different. They would get my soul, heart and mind conveniently placed in a handsome strong body.”

Mats, like most teenage boys, thought about sex a lot, and his first crush (at least the first he admits to) was found within ‘Warcraft’. We see their initial meet-cute, their romantic walks through picturesque areas of the game world, their awkward but thrilling first kiss. But one day she just vanishes from the virtual space, abruptly ending his whirlwind virtual romance and sending Mats into a dark place. Then we see events from the perspective of the real player behind the avatar known as Rumour. Clearly just as smitten as Ibelin, it turns out that this Dutch gamer was forcibly removed from the online world by parents who only saw the impact her late-night sessions were having on her grades and so took her computer away.

“If only I wasn’t handicapped… it was always my excuse.”

Mats was sadly unwilling to let his friends see how physically different he was from his avatar, so he missed his ‘Warcraft’ guild travelling across Europe together in person. Clearly disappointed by the one companion missing the trip, the guild made a concerted effort to document the occasion with photos to share with Ibelin later, but this may have caused him even more pain to see what he was missing out on, what he could never experience in the real world. Mats is shown to have a great impact on his group as a confidant, a listener, and a mediator, but still didn’t feel able to reciprocate, to open up to his friends or let anyone else in, at least until one of his group managed to figure out his situation by chance. It was this one-way relationship and increasing frustration at his situation and tendency to lash out in anger that began to ostracise him from his friends towards the end of his life.

As liberating as living another life through ‘Warcraft’ was for Ibelin for a time, eventually his physical limitations began to hinder his efficient use of his specialised computer hardware. At one point he muses that “There’s always one button I can’t quite reach,” and he means it both metaphorically and very literally. 

Animation is a wonderful extra tool for documentary filmmakers to utilise in visualising missing elements of a biographical story. Notably, the Oscar-winning Afghan refugee documentary Flee needed animation to depict events that were not filmed but also to retain the anonymity of its source. Here, it is used to bring life to the most important times in Mats’ tragically short time on Earth in the visual style of the world he felt more at home in than his own. 

If you don’t understand the passion that some people have for video games or the countless hours people sink into them, then this probably won’t convert you. But video games can be a wonderfully liberating form of entertainment, even a necessity for those of us who process the world a little differently. For all its perception as alienating and removing “real” contact from human relationships, we see a Danish mother unable to meaningfully connect with her autistic son on an emotional or physical level grow closer, on Ibelin’s suggestion, by playing ‘World of Warcraft’ with him in the same room. Mats would have found it exceedingly difficult to maintain friendships without those relationships blurring boundaries with caregivers or contact obligation out of pity, even if it came from a place of genuine love. Ibelin’s second virtual life, where he could be somebody completely unlike himself and form lasting bonds that transcended geographical and physical limitations, was just as valid as anyone’s everyday experiences in a tactile world. 

The clue’s in the title: The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is remarkable. Mats Steen was dealt a cruel hand, but rather than retreat into himself and give into despair, he managed to use the tools available to him to escape his confines, to love and be loved, to live a life worth living online despite lacking physical connection to his friends, or his family deeply understanding who he was until after he was gone. This story of a unique and miraculous individual, movingly and sensitively told, will leave you with a tear in your eye, your spirits lifted and much on your mind. 

Score: 20/24