BEN X
Written & Directed by Nic Balthazar, based on his novel Niets Was Alles Wat Hij Zei and play Niets
Released by Film Movement
Dutch with English subtitles
The Netherlands/Belgium. 93 min. Not Rated
With  Greg Timmermans, Laura Verlinden, Marijke Pinoy, Pol Goossen, Titus De Voogdt & Maarten Claeyssens
 

Adolescence can be difficult under the best of circumstances. However, if you’re a teen who has any kind of obvious condition that sets you apart from others, the problems are multiplied ten thousand fold. Kids in junior high and high school often assert themselves by looking for those weaker than themselves, and when they find them, they tear them apart.

Ben (Greg Timmermans) is one of those weak kids whose life at school is an endless cycle of torture and bullying. Ben has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild autistic disorder. He’s bright, but has trouble communicating. His obvious nervousness and anxiety makes him an easy target at school.

Ben’s unease and weakness in real life are in sharp contrast to his online world, where he excels at the multiplayer fantasy game ArchLord. There, Ben’s avatar, Ben X, is powerful, respected, and heroic. He even has a girlfriend (of the online variety) who supports him and believes in him. But he can’t translate his online persona to his real life, and as the taunting becomes worse and worse, Ben begins to look for an escape, an endgame that involves destruction and vengeance.

Nic Balthazar, a first-time filmmaker, said that he was inspired by true events. “Inspired by” are the key words because there are numerous elements in this film that don’t feel realistic, most of all the plot twist at the end of the film, which, to be honest, is one of those “WTF?” moments that almost takes you out of the rest of the film. Other awkward devices also intrude; personally, I am never, never, never a fan of documentary-style interviews where characters talk about the dreaded, awful, horrible event that has happened and which the rest of the film is building to (and which is oddly nullified by the ending).

But there are elements that work. Balthazar does a good job of visually conveying the chaos in Ben’s mind as the world he doesn’t understand refracts and clatters around him. The scenes of high school bullying are vivid and realistic and far more horrifying than any gory murder you’ll find in a teen horror movie. And the tentative romance between Ben and his online girlfriend has moments of sweetness. These qualities make you wish a better fate for Ben X than is found in the last 20 minutes or so, but may be enough for those looking for a reminder that their own teen nightmares aren’t suffered alone. Kirsten Anderson
October 24, 2008