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'Ben-X' - the story of an autistic bullied gamer in love
by Magda Knight
Ben-X is a film about an autistic prettyboy teenager with an emo haircut who's bullied at school and is trying to learn how to act in real life through his addiction to online roleplaying games, the only place where he has love and respect. If you like Sigur Ros, Requiem for a Dream, geek references and lip-chewing tension, it's time to find out more about Ben-X.
Ben-X is a 2007 film about an autistic boy with emo hair who's addicted to MMPORGs (massive multiplayer online roleplaying games). He gets full-on bullied at school (other kids pull down his trousers and show his noogle on YouTube, nick his mobile phone and force him to swallow ecstasy), and the online roleplaying game - where he is near-king of a virtual world - gives him his only safe place to retreat to.
What is more, his online backup is Scarlite, a sexy virtual princess and healer who may or may not be a genuinely normal and fit young woman. She represents everything that's good about his life - so what would happen if he were ever to meet her in The Real?
One really nice thing about this film is its astute and sensitive handling of gaming. MMPORGs are the most extreme form of gaming invented so far, due to their immersive and addictive qualities. Any gamer should give them a go to see how far a person can take this gaming thing - they're basically time sinks, ideal for someone who wants to run away from life for a few hours and go live somewhere else. Ultimately pointless, sure, but crack-smokingly addictive from the start.
And Ben-X does a great job of handling the world of the MMPORG. It's created cut scenes from a non-existent online roleplaying game, Archlord, that smacks of uber-MMPORG WarCraft... and, more interestingly, handles the cross-reality blurring of boundaries very well. As autistic Ben (Timmermans) treats his real world as a virtual battle where skills must be earned and learned and adversaries must be conquered, the game's filters overlay onto the film itself in a way that is both visually sophisticated, witty and convincing. Effective, and with a touch of humour to it.
One word of warning, though, before you watch: Ben-X is belgian. It was entered for 'Best Foreign Language Film' in the 2007 Academy Awards and failed to receive a nomination, which really ain't fair, because it's quality stuff. And because it's belgian, one of the joys in viewing it is due to the creatively erratic subtitling. Wow. Every now and then, you feel they've invented a whole new language there. It's English, Jim, but not as we know it... but please, please, consider this an extra treat, rather than an element to put you off. Subtitled foreign films tend to be more gripping than dubbed ones because nothing's been diluted for you, you get the whole raw thing, and this film's subtitling rates up there with All Your Base Are Belong To Us - instant cult classic.
You may be wondering if this film is geeky, considering the subject matter. It is. Hugely. On the surface. The main actor has decked his computer out with painted polystyrene foam to look like an alien mountain, and even the film's title is a reference to the l33t version of the Dutch phrase "(ik) ben niks", meaning "(I) am nothing".
But it's geek with an edge. Like we said, emo haircut. And drugs. And existentialism. And the soundtrack contains the musical talents of Praga Khan, Lords Of Acid, Arno, dEUS, Liam Chan and Sigur Ros.
Oh, and it's based on the true story of a belgian boy who hid from reality in online roleplaying games and eventually committed suicide due to school bullying.
So, to summarise... Ben is different. His life is a universe to itself, where he plays his favourite online computer game Archlord avidly, trying hard to train himself for the real world he lives in. The harsh world of a technical school is for him a daily kind of hell. As the horror of being a daily subject to bullying grows, Ben devises a plan. Then Scarlite comes into his life, the girl he has met in his online game. That wasn't part of the plan...
If you liked Pi and Requiem for a Dream, two intense non-mainstream films that pride themselves on building an unbelievable tense and addictive atmosphere, then Ben-X will be another film to add to your life's collection. Played grittily and shot starkly, music and subject matter and fine direction by Nic Balthazar combine to make a film that piles on one nail-biting moment after another, drawing you in and leaving you chewing your lip as you wonder what the outcome of the bullying and retreat from life will be. Will Ben-X take down the bullies in an orgy of panicked violence? Will he take his own life?
You'll have to watch the film to find out. Add it to your list.
