“Ibelin”

Online friends can be just as meaningful and significant as those we know “in real life,” and director Benjamin Ree’s documentary “Ibelin” celebrates the sense of citizenry within a group of World of Warcraft gamers after one of their own succumbs to a degenerative muscular disease. It’s a story of friendship and community that’s lovely, even if it’s not quite deep enough to justify the runtime.

Mats Stein was diagnosed with a rare condition when he was just a kid, and his parents were determined to make his life as happy and normal as possible. Their son grew weaker as he got older, opting to spend his time playing computer games rather than going out and living life. Worried that Mats was missing out on relationships, they were doubly devastated when he died at age 25. It’s what happened next that surprised and delighted the family Mads left behind: he had a secret life and online network of loyal friends that no one knew about until he was gone.

The documentary tells the backstory of Mats with family videos, photos, and interviews, and Ree gets creative in his compelling storytelling by using dialogue written by Mats and his friends and setting it to animated game avatars. Actors read the actual transcripts of things said between the young man and his online cohorts, and it reveals the total picture of his personality, dreams, anxieties, and fears.

“Ibelin” goes on a little too long and includes a lot of material that’s unnecessary to the story, but Ree paints a thorough picture of not only his subject, but of the meaningful relationships that can exist beyond the physical world.

By: Louisa Moore