Comment|The Miraculous Life of Ibelin tells the touching story of a young sick man who had a secret life online. It forces us to think about our understanding of the digital world and human relationships.
I am learned a long time ago that my feelings are no guarantee of artistic quality. I get emotional so easily that crying while watching a movie doesn’t mean the work is good.
An hour and a half of Netflix The Wonderful Life of Ibelin -documentary went with a handkerchief in hand. Regardless of your feelings, it is essential viewing if you are interested in the relationship between digital and physical life.
Document tells About Mats Steenwho is confined to a wheelchair by Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It would lead to his early death. His parents let him play by the hour every day because he missed so much.
However, they were sad because Mats didn’t have time to meet friends due to playing. The parents knew that he had friends online. But they thought that these people don’t know their son – they are only online.
After Mats’s death, it was revealed to the parents that Mats had an entire life online. He was playing World of Warcraft – online role-playing game as part of a close-knit community. They didn’t just play, they spent time together. Mats’s character Ibelin Redmoore was a private detective who solved other people’s problems. Mats also helped other players with their difficult real life problems.
”
For many of us, our understanding of human relationships is steeped in history.
Movie asks what human relationships and distance in relationships mean in the digital age. What makes a relationship real?
20 years ago it was updated that a real relationship cannot start online. Now Tinder is already an old thing. The documentary shows that people can also live with each other, even if they never meet physically. Mats died at the age of 25 in 2014, ten years ago. For many of us, our understanding of human relationships is steeped in history.
Socializing online lacks many levels of being human, which distorts the experience. It can distance and not bring closer. It is harmful in many ways. But this issue is not black and white either. Matsi’s story is about people for whom full interaction is too difficult.
In a world where the physical and the virtual mix, these people can be pioneers. Because of their limits, they more daringly cross the limits. The Wonderful Life of Ibelin is a documentary about this new kind of world and its pioneer, in his wheelchair.
The Wonderful Life of Ibelin, Netflix.