Games are a way of escape for some people and, sometimes, even a way of life. No need to escape from anything, just another entertainment option. For the autistic Benny, though, it’s his only way to lead some sort of life; away from the bullies and pressures of the world. “Ben X” is presented as a film about onling gaming, but it’s actually more than that and aside from its questionable direction at times, leaves a memorable impression.
“Ben X” is presented as a movie about the “dangers of gaming,” but it quickly dispels the notion of being another anti-gaming propaganda film. Unlike the popular media, it takes a different approach and focuses on the many aspects of a tragic event — not just the “gaming is the ultimate evil” one.
This Dutch film does, however, serve as an in-road to the mind of Benny (Greg Timmermans) who lives vicariously through his obsessive MMO-playing, where he need not worry about the harassment he receives at school.
Bullies torment him for his difficulty to speak and express himself — an effect of Asperger’s Syndrome. Ben’s only recourse is to curl up and take the beatings of character to later lash out after the fact.
The times he “blows up” are powerful windows into his condition and ones acted out remarkably well by Timmerman in his debut film. Ben’s development through paranoia, hallucinations, and mood swings are disturbingly depicted throughout.
A life unfulfilled is filled in through his favorite game, Archlord, of which you can see the effects flowing into his real life. Every move he makes is planned and executed as if there’s one grand scheme, or strategy, to perfectly run and play it.
Unfortunately for Ben, people don’t take too kindly to the type of person he is. “Ben X” takes the concept of bullying and makes it one of the central themes. It can be pretty heavy-handed at times, but it tends to get its point across more often than not.
Ben meets a girl through the virtual world he adventures through and becomes the turning point of the story where the film falters off a bit. She helps him relate his gaming skills and leads him to commit his innermost desires.
The scenes with the girl are some of the sour points with the film, but also the cinematography and direction can be a bit overdone. There are times where the camera is unnecessarily busy and flashbacks are annoyingly edited. Also, surely the director could have found a better way to build suspense besides documentary-style interviews — a cheap way out.
“Ben X” takes a good look into a man’s journey being different and how easily his peers cast him out. The direction gets credit for balancing the story out with the many causes that lead to its conclusion. And while its lesson can be construed as overdone, at times, it effectively presents a social problem; one Ben finds the end game to.
Theatrical Limited Release: October 24, 2008
[Editor’s Note: Walking down the aisles of your favorite retailer you’ll see movies that you’ve never heard of. Even if you’d like to know how they fare no one cares enough to review them! That’s where “Movie Watch” comes in…oh, and we’ll try to cover movies on Xbox Live from time to time. Because if you’re gonna spend those confusing Microsoft points on something other than games, it better be worth it, right?]
More Movie Watch:
Virgin Territory
The American Mall
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
Batman - Gotham Knight
Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku)
Raising Jeffrey Dahmer
October 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
nice review man. I might check this out over the weekend.