runamokprods A study of a tortured teen with Asperberger'™s syndrome, Ben is bullied and mistreated by his peers, and since his divorced parents are pretty clueless, he retreats into an on line role- playing fantasy game, where he has won the heart of a female player. Greg Timmerman is is excellent in the lead, but also looks a little old for the role, which takes a little something away from the reality, and heartbreak of the film. Most of the supporting performances are very good as well. The film captures the trauma of adolescence, honestly and brutally.(possible mild semi-spoiler ahead!) But the documentary like interviews are ultimately setting us up for a twist ending that is both weirdly satisfying and a huge cheat and let down at the same time. It feels good, but makes all the raw emotion of the film up to that point feel a bit copped out on. None-the-less, there is some very inventive filmmaking here, and the film is rarely less than riveting. It just seems that, sadly, it adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

Sindre Kaspersen Nic Balthazar's feature film debut is a brave and visually symptomatic depiction of the harrowing consequences of social repression, that portrays the life of emotive teenager Ben who lives with his mother and younger brother in the city of Brussels. He has Asperger's syndrome and through the years he has been bullied so much that he has escaped into the computer game MMORPG Archlords virtual role-play world where he is a confident and courageous warrior. Ben uses this game to prepare for the unliveable reality at school where he goes under nicknames such as "Frankenstein" and "The man from March", but however hard he tries to adjust he always ends up in front of his computer with his head drained by suicidal and vengeful thoughts. Ben's fuse is almost burned out and the only glimpses of faith and hope in a happiness he has never know, rests on is his role-play partner Scarlite. Former Belgian film critic Nic Balthazar's first film is an adaptation of his own novel "Nothing was all he said", which is inspired by a true story about a 17-year old boy with mild autism who committed suicide by jumping from the Gravensteen castle in Gent because of bullying. "Ben X" is told through the main character's brutally honest voice-over, frequent flashback scenes and flash forward scenes where semi-documentary interviews create ominous forebodings. The film plays out in three alternative worlds; Ben's social realistic everyday life, the fictive computer game world in Archlord and the divided world inside Ben's head that balances on a thin line between reality and fantasy. Nic Balthazar's experimental filming creates a good pace which is accelerated by a soundtrack that really serves it's purpose considering the films serious depiction of themes such as alienation, collective bullying, autism, identity crises, suicide and courage.The title of the film refers to the Dutch phrase "(Ik) ben niks" which means; (I) am nothing. Through Nic Balthazar's creative direction, frequent use of close-ups and Greg Timmerman's unrestrained performance this movie is able to project the protagonist's versatile states of mind on the viewers. This is a socially intellectual film about a constantly relevant topic and an intimate study of character about a young boy who is repeatedly faced with a reality that forces him to choose between giving up his existence by his own hand or use the last grams of self-respect to retaliate.All though it has some similarities with American filmmaker Richard Kelly's "Donnie Darko" (2001) and Irish filmmaker John Crowley's "Boy A" (2007), this character-driven socio-drama needs no comparison as it stands so well on it's own feet. It reaches the miraculous in the last act and this unforgettable scene is intensified by the transcending song "Svefn-G-englar" by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. This is futuristic social realism with audio-visual force.

falquizo Movies about characters with disabilities usually focus on how the personal deficiencies were overcome, with everyone, especially the audience, feeling good in the end. This is not that kind of movie. Ben, the central character, is an autistic high school student subjected to repeated excruciating torments by his classmates. Everyday in school he gets slapped and pushed around while he cowers helplessly. Later he is subjected to a most traumatic assault by two of the meaner classmates, one cruel asault shown in the internet as a crowd of students cheer and jeer. Ben's divorced parents and the school authorities seem as helpless as Ben. As this goes on without respite I felt that Director Balthazar, (who wrote and directed this from his own novel), enjoyed Ben's suffering as much as his sadistic classmates. Somewhere along the movie I became convinced that Balthazar is submitting his own entry into the Torture Film Genre (Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" ('97), Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ"). Ben's consolation is playing his sword-and-sandal superhero video game, Archlord. This is used to tease the audience that at a certain point Ben will emulate his hero and fight back. He can never get himself to do it however. The only thing in that video game fantasy that becomes his salvation is the appearance of a young woman, Scarlite, who gives him the courage to act on his solution -- to die. It is this act that Balthazar uses to end the movie supposedly to shame Ben's tormentors and all the school authorities, into remorse over everything done to Ben. This retaliation that Balthazar cooked up, that these young brutes and thugs, these indifferent, uncaring and indifferent adults, can supposedly be shamed, I find not only naive but phony, artistically inane and dishonest. After showing us throughout the movie a group of irreparably thuggish youths and indifferent uncaring adults, Balthazar wants us to think that these people can be shamed into remorse and reforming. Balthazar's whole point seems to be that the only refuge the emotionally and mentally handicap can find is in the fantasy of video games, that the real world will always be cruel, even to the point of turning video -- the only world he can escape to -- into yet another torment. Balthazar probably forgot that the film world is bursting to its seams with Christ metaphors and Christ themes have long been exhausted, and any new attempt is artificial and shallow. Timmermans' performance, even if he looks older to be a high school student, is highly commendable. Ben's absorbing fear of the world outside his room and his video screen is perfectly encapsulated in the way he coils unto himself, the way he walks as though anticipating to fall or sink as he takes his next step, the contortions on his face as he walks through the gauntlet of students. The repeated shots from above when Ben gets out of his house looking like a creature coming out of a hole in the ground is a haunting image, implying his being not of this world. This is a well-photographed movie with a good script, very well acted by all, especially Timmermans and Verlinden, but the treatment of a disabled life really stinks.Tito Alquizola ##

alex_s0 I was shocked. It's so very touching, sensible, hard, beautiful, soft... It deserve a vote bigger, larger, greater than 10! Extroardinary performances, script, message!The actors are complete unknown for me! But, again, notoriety is not equal to talent! I hope that the viewer of this movie, will take a greater responsibility in their children education. Ben's classmates may be any kids from school. It's just the flock effect. Hopeffuly, after this movie, you will try and successfully you will make your children to think for themselves, with their own brain and heart.Like his father said: "his problem were people, not his illness" And there are many other examples who sadly... died.