Tearjerkers don’t come much more effective than The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, a story about a young boy’s death and, also, the posthumous discovery of his life. Premiering on Netflix on Oct. 25, Benjamin Ree’s documentary is a unique portrait of hardship, perseverance, togetherness, trust, and love, and its manipulations are at once bold and yet authentic and necessary. Told with a sensitivity that’s matched by its subtlety, it earns the waterworks it quickly and consistently elicits.
On Nov. 18, 2014, Mats Steen died. The preceding 25 years had not been easy for the Oslo, Norway, native, who at an early age was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare condition that was destined to cause his muscles to slowly degenerate. There was, and still is, no cure for Duchenne, and thus Mats, his parents Robert and Trude, and his sister Mia were saddled with a tragic future in which the boy, who seemed healthy at birth, would physically deteriorate at a gradual pace, going from walking normally to stumbling often to being permanently confined to a wheelchair.
Mats’ mounting inability to move around independently cost him an infinite number of experiences that most young people take for granted, be it sports, friendships, parties, or dating. Understandably, this was what most wrecked Robert and Trude, whose devotion to him was unwavering, and who sought to make his every day bright and happy. In home movies, Robert carries his son on his back out of a pool and the clan celebrates his birthday at home, opening presents in his bed, and the warmth and affection of these snapshots makes them all the more wrenching, since the struggle, disappointment, and despair lurking beneath the surface is ever-present.
Due to his physical limitations, Mats took to gaming, and as the years wore on, his interest in them—whether on a Game Boy, a Nintendo 64, or a PC—grew to all-consuming levels. This concerned Robert and Trude, who viewed Mats’ pastime as a retreat from everything they wished for him, and they did their best to encourage him to spend time outdoors. Nonetheless, as he became increasingly immobile, gaming took over. Matts played World of Warcraft for upwards of 12 hours a day, using his right hand and a custom-built mouse-and-buttons controller to navigate the title’s enormous universe, all as multiple aids tended to his real-world issues and infirmities.
Mats had a blog, “Musings on life,” and when he died (peacefully, in his sleep), Robert and Trude posted a note informing others of his passing. Almost immediately, they began receiving email after email from individuals around the globe expressing their condolences and, moreover, revealing how much Mats had meant to them during the past decade.
“Mats was a real friend to me. He was an incurable romantic and had considerable success with women,” wrote one. “I feel almost like he was part of the family,” messaged another. “I don’t think he was aware of how big an impact he had done to a lot of people,” said a third.
Through communication with some of these individuals, what they learned was astonishing: Rather than having transformed into a recluse who was cut off from humanity, Mats had spent upwards of 20,000 hours in World of Warcraft doing, and feeling, all the things he couldn’t because of Duchenne. As his avatar Ibelin, a burly, goateed private investigator, he had found a virtual means of living out his dreams.
Thanks to a 42,000+-page archive of the World of Warcraft “Starlight” community of which he was a member, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin recreates many of the key moments in Mats’ online existence, from his first encounter with (and kiss from) Lisette, to his friendship with Xenia and, later, her son Mikkel, whose relationship he helped mend by encouraging them to connect via World of Warcraft.
Complemented by touching on-camera interviews with these individuals and narration taken from Mats’ blog, director Ree’s in-game sequences illustrate the depth and breadth of Mats’ virtual interactions and bonds. Furthermore, the fact that these passages are animated in more cinematic terms than Mats himself would have originally experienced them is a sweet twist, helping bring his fantastical role-playing exploits to even grander life.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is a moving tale of triumph in the face of adversity, and yet it refuses to be only sunshine and daffodils. As Ibelin, Mats was a “womanizer” who cheated on Lisette’s Rumour, and when his ailment worsened, he became more hostile and distant, straining his friendship with Xenia. In these details, however, Ree’s film further underscores that World of Warcraft afforded Mats the opportunity to go through the myriad ups and downs that define everyone’s lives. Those included reconciliations and confessions about his affliction, about which he was naturally insecure—given that he feared rejection and pity—and which kept him from joining in-person and voice-chat get-togethers with his gaming friends.
In World of Warcraft, Mats was the strong, outgoing, adventurous man he would never get to be, and the fact that, upon logging on, he would spend his first 30 minutes running through fields and towns speaks to how the game gave him an approximation of the freedom he sought.
No one involved in The Remarkable Life of Ibelin goes so far as to pretend that Mats’ online life was as rich and rewarding as an offline one might have been, but the film persuasively contends that it was diverse, enlightening, exhilarating, and depressing in equal measure. Better still, it pays honest and earnest tribute to Mats’ complicated emotional and psychological state, conveying the bitterness and frustration, and sincerity and kindness, that made him as three-dimensional as any able-bodied compatriot.
As such, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is a testament to both gaming—as an outlet for aspirations, a venue for camaraderie, and a bastion against loneliness—and to Mats, who refused to let Duchenne squash his indefatigable, complex spirit. As one of his myriad friends wrote upon his death, “Despite his challenges, he still found the strength to be there for us. What mattered to Mats was being able to spread joy in our lives.” Ree’s film spreads quite a bit of that as well.
