Sydney Film Festival Review - The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

 

“He left us his password.”

Heartfelt, heartwarming and emotional, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin tells the truly incredibly story of Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer who died at age 25 from a degenerative muscle disease, who led an impactful double life digitally within World of Warcraft, in a tender documentary that utilises gameplay animation and interviews with other players to sketch out how impactful and remarkable Mats life really was.

Discussion Points:

Never judge a book by its cover or assume things based on appearances. Mats Steen may have had a terribly debilitating degenerative muscular disease that robbed him of doing much physically, but that didn’t stop him from digitally living a life to the full that allowed him to make friends, fall in love and impact the lives of countless people. The documentary chooses not to delve into the details of Mats condition, and instead details the World of Warcraft character Ibelin that he invented and role played as for over 20000 hours prior to his death. By using the data archives of gameplay and chat logs, the team behind the documentary recreate parts of Mats life within the world of WoW, where his handsome Ibelin inspired people, comforted people, and occasionally loved, led on and broke the hearts of people. Seamlessly blending the interviews and gameplay, audiences will come away loving Mats “Ibelin” Steen, with plenty of sniffles and tears heard throughout my screening. I’m sincerely hoping this remains in the documentary conversation come awards season because this would be a very deserving film worthy of recognition.