Screened at IFFBoston on May 4, 2024
Through animation, director Benjamin Ree illustrates the rich virtual world that Norwegian gamer Mats Steen inhabited. What is most compelling about the documentary are the existential questions it raises. What does it mean to lead a good life? Are experiences in the virtual world as important as the physical world? How do we cope with extreme adversity?
The first quarter of the documentary is traditional in style. It begins with baby photos and home movies that rapidly progress through Steen’s life. It intercuts interviews with his parents, who express sadness about the limitations of their son’s life. Steen had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a condition in which the muscles progressively deteriorate with age. Steen’s father explains his fears that his son would be unable to live a good life, which he defines as falling in love, having friends, and making a difference to others. Towards the end of his life at age 25, Steen was almost completely paralyzed with only limited use of his hands. His death is reached so quickly in the film that the segment feels shockingly brief and simple.
But this is a set-up for the rest of the documentary, which is full of unexpected revelations. After Steen’s death, his parents post the news on Steen’s blog and receive an outpouring of messages from his online friends and readers they had no idea existed. After this revelation, the documentary restarts. A different introduction begins about the life of “Ibelin,” the name of the online avatar Steen uses in the World of Warcraft.
From here onward several long segments of the documentary take place in this magical medieval kingdom. The gaming community that Mats was part of saved all the transcripts of game dialogue and actions. With these the filmmakers recreate the gamers’ experiences and conversations with Steen. Through much of the rest of the documentary Steen is mostly seen as his virtual avatar Ibelin – a handsome bearded muscular man.
In the game world Ibelin develops meaningful friendships, falls in love, and offers help and advice to others. With the animated game scenes and voice-actor readings of Steen’s blog, the viewer gains a rich and detailed view into how Steen saw himself and how he aspired to live. His blog details his experiences with Duchenne Syndrome – the extreme physical challenges and the pain of the false assumptions that the physically disabled are also mentally disabled. In this online world Steen/Ibelin had a voice and community.
But interpreting someone else’s inner life presents ethical questions. The animated scenes are reconstructed from action description and dialogue, but there appears to be some artistic license in the animation. There are close-ups of facial reactions, hands touching, and occasionally a pan or follow shot. It is hard to know if these more cinematic elements were in the game or not. A lot can be implied by a nervous glance or small frown. The viewer does not have access to the transcripts, so it is impossible to discern what was taken directly from the transcripts versus what was added by the animators.
These questions might not matter as much if Steen had been involved in the production process and could have given feedback on these animated scenes. Steen’s own words are used and the documentary is mostly a positive portrayal of him, but he has no final say in how his story is told. I don’t raise this issue to question the filmmakers’ intentions, but it is something that every documentarian has to consider when creating a film about a person who is no longer living. Is there a powerful enough reason to tell a story without the consent of the main subject?
For the living subjects portrayed in the documentary, it was clear that they were eager to participate and share their stories of Steen. Throughout some of the animated sequences, we hear interviews with subjects about how they were feeling at the moment and how they interpreted the interaction at the time. During some of the most difficult conversations within the game world, I heard audible cries from the audience. In these moments Ibelin seems so real and it is clear how much he meant to so many people.
The beauty and power of this is felt in the animation. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin joins a handful of documentaries that have used animation to convey the complex inner lives of their subjects. The memorable footage is not the earlier videos of Steen at home, but the scenes of Ibelin running through fields, telling stories, and hugging his friends. What is exactly true in every animated sequence cannot be discerned, but it is the ideal medium to show the meaningful relationships Steen had in the virtual world.
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The Remarkable Life of Ibelin will be available to watch on Netflix starting October 25, 2024.
Interested in more documentaries with animation? Next week I’ll share my top recommendations.