CINEMA: Ben X

This extremely accomplished film from writer/director Nic Balthazar takes an intelligent and rather different view of bullying. Teenager Ben (Greg Timmermans) suffers from Asperger syndrome but rather than send him to a ‘special’ school his mother (Marijke Pinoy) has opted to keep him in the mainstream education system.  She thinks she is doing the right thing by Ben, but what she does not know is he is being severely bullied on a daily basis by two of the other pupils. The only respite Ben can find is through a fantasy computer game in which he becomes the all-conquering knight Ben X, fighting alongside a mystery female player he knows only as Scarlite. After one particularly distressing bout of bullying Scarlite urges Ben to take revenge and the normally timid teenager decides enough is enough.

With its mix of computer animation (when Ben become Ben X) and gritty realism this is a thought-provoking, well thought-out and handsomely framed movie that never allows itself to cross the line into exploitation.  The bullying scenes are well handled and in one instance at least, difficult to watch without wincing. The fact it is subtitled may put some people off, but because of the quality of the material, don’t be surprised if an English language version gets made in the very near future.      Dee Pilgrim