The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

Robert and Trudy Steen were ecstatic when their son Mats was born, convinced he was the most perfect, beautiful child ever. They began to notice he was developing more slowly than he should be, having trouble standing up and frequently stumbling. He was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and while he was fitted out with a hi tech wheelchair and his parents and younger sister Mia did everything to keep him engaged with people, he withdrew, moving to his parents' basement apartment after graduating high school and becoming totally absorbed with online gaming. They were bereft when he died at the age of twenty-five, thinking this special young man had been cut off from so many human experiences, but when Robert remembered Mats' blog password and posted an online notice of his death, they were flooded with emails from an entire community who told them all about "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin."

Laura's Review: B+

With his latest documentary, Norwegian director Benjamin Ree ("The Painter and the Thief") not only recreates a life after death, he makes a strong case for digital connection in a film he keeps visually interesting by intercutting archival footage and present day interviews with animated recreations of Mats' World of Warcraft sessions culled from a 42,000 page gaming archive. (It should be noted however that the recreated game play features animated facial expressions which may not have been present in the original game play.)

The film begins with family video depicting the heavily pregnant Trudy, then Mats as a baby and toddler as both mother and father discuss their child in voice over. After watching the boy deteriorate, his death is announced rather early. It is Mats' 'Musings of Life' blog which Robert connects to and we see his and Trudy's face as Ree shows us emails arriving in droves, telling the family such things as 'he was an incurable romantic who had great success with women' to 'he would always throw out a comment to lighten the mood.' It is at about the midway point where things get really interesting, Ree introducing us to Mats' World of Warcraft avatar, Ibelin Redmoore, a blue-eyed, blond, pony-tailed muscular detective who is, at least initially, somewhat shy (a fellow player conjectures that Mats chose his avatar's occupation as a means to meet other people). Then a female character, Rumour, removes his hat and runs and when Ibelin's male companion convinces him he's being flirted with, Ibelin follows. A relationship develops, Ibelin receiving his first kiss virtually, but one day Rumour simply disappears.

Ree takes us out of the World of Warcraft to have us meet Lisette, the woman behind Rumour who vanished when her parents took her computer away after her grades began to slip. She sank into depression, but Mats not only reached out via chat, he wrote a very diplomatic letter to her parents explaining why he believed she should be allowed online again. It worked. The young man the Steens believed would never have the opportunity to make his mark on the world had only just begun. Ibelin also interacts with Reine and again, via chat, will learn that Xenia, the player who is the single Danish mom of an autistic son, was having trouble connecting with him. Why not try through the game, Mats suggests, and a mother and son find a connection they are eventually able to export into their real lives. We'll see the two gaming from opposite ends of a room, happily chatting back and forth, Mats having gotten Mikkel to plug into reality via a computerized game.

Mats is also recognized as an individual with flaws, his emotional response to his condition affecting Ibelin's behavior, which becomes increasing flirtatious with multiple female characters while talking about other characters behind their backs. He ducks from video and audio chats, sticking to text and disappoints Lisette among others when he is the only member of the Starlight community not to attend an in person group gathering from across several countries. Then Mats finally confides his situation to Xenia, who had told him off about his behavior, and Mats is man enough to come back to the Starlight community and apologize. He'll eventually be brave enough to disclose his diagnosis to everyone.

Ree will admit us to Mats' funeral service, an overhead shot of his pallbearers showing us both Mia and Lisette among them. But what is most surprising is that it is somehow more moving to see the animated Starlight community from World of Warcraft gather in silence to mourn him. Mats Steen created Ibelin Redmoore in order to do the things he couldn't and left both this world and a virtual one in mourning.

Robin's Review: B+

Mats Steen, a Norwegian boy, was born with a degenerative muscle disease that ended his life at just 25 and his parents believed that their boy led a sad and isolated life. Then, compliments and condolences from gamers around the world began to pour in and only then did they learn about "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin."

Director Benjamin Ree tells us a compelling story about misunderstanding, coping with tragedy, coming of age, falling in love and making friends. The amazing thing is that Mats, without his parents knowing, built a world of adventure for himself through the favorite video game, World of Warcraft.

He took the moniker, Ibelin, for his muscle-bound warrior's name and, in his character, does good deeds and helps and supports his W of W friends – and falls in love and gets his first virtual kiss. It is a touching look into a life that his family and friends knew nothing about,

Director Ree builds and shapes Mats's story, using 42 thousand pages of game text about his alter ego, Ibelin Redmoore, to tell his fascinating (and remarkable) life. The first part is from mom and dad's point of view as they cope with their son's steady decline, prepare for their coming loss and worry that he will die a lonely young man.

Then, Mats dies and the film takes 180 degree turn from sad to glad. As the praise and support come from around the world, his folks realize that their son, in a fantasy gaming world, was anything but lonely. He made virtual friends, from everywhere on earth, and the messages about Mats from his many friends turned mom and dad's real world around. It is a touching and inspirational story about the real and virtual worlds.

I know next to nothing about video games – I think the last one I played was Pong – so the whole World of Warcraft might as well be from another planet. The filmmakers, though, blend the fantasy images of Ibelin and tell Mats's story in doing so. What began as a sad tale of a lonely young man becomes an uplifting story of the human spirit.

Netflix releases "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin" in select theaters on 10/18/24 before it begins streaming on 10/25/24.