Ben X
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Wed 15 October 2008 // 20:00
Nic Balthazar/ Belgium/ 2007/ 93 mins/ cert 15/ £4/£3/(£2 ttt)
Ben (Greg Timmermans) is an autistic teenager at the mercy of bullies at his college, but in the fantasy online gaming world of ‘Archlord’ he is Ben X, a brave warrior who has a caring female side-kick. After a humiliating
prank caught on cameraphone is posted on the internet, Ben is driven to desperate measures, taking battle skills learnt in cyberspace into the real world. Nic Balthazar's debut cleverly uses aspects of game culture in an intriguing character study which blurs fantasy and reality and yet still manages to confront difficult social problems.
Ben (Greg Timmermans) is an autistic teenager at the mercy of bullies at his college, but in the fantasy online gaming world of ‘Archlord’ he is Ben X, a brave warrior who has a caring female side-kick. After a humiliating
prank caught on cameraphone is posted on the internet, Ben is driven to desperate measures, taking battle skills learnt in cyberspace into the real world. Nic Balthazar's debut cleverly uses aspects of game culture in an intriguing character study which blurs fantasy and reality and yet still manages to confront difficult social problems.