Ben X

Nic Balthazar's first feature film Ben X looks at life through the eyes of a tortured autistic teenager. Ben (Greg Timmermans) doesn't say much or do much to defend himself. Consequently, his rotten classmates do their best to make his life even more miserable. Ben has retreated deep into himself and rarely leaves his cocoon because whenever he does (outside of the presence of his family) he is greeted with derision and contempt. His world consists of online gaming, odd encounters with religious iconography, and split-second glimpses of obscure pieces of reality which no one else is capable of seeing, his particular disposition rendering them personally objective, saliently shot by cinematographer Lou Berghmans. As things deteriorate, a girl (Scarlite played by Laura Verlinden) enters his online domain who challenges him to speak, to bloom. His resultant desire brings about a remarkable metamorphosis which demonstrates how one moment of extroverted introversion can trump millions of hackneyed catch phrases, objectifying the eternal beauty of peace, brought about through social castration.

Whether or not any of this occurs is a matter for debate, and Balthazar is no slouch when it comes to layering the ambiguity. While this ambiguity may leave you feeling ill, its presence is likely a by-product of every instance in which you partake in acts similar to those engaged in by Ben's classmates, an encounter with the other side, the disenfranchised, the consequences. Ben X unravels the ironic dimension of militaristic bravado, pointing out how easy it is to be brutal and follow cantankerous commands.

While showing how much stronger the people are who peacefully, critically, and artistically stand up against it, the stentorian courage found within the coward who rebels, the derelict strength of a disembodied, ethereal, event.

Filmed in Belgium in Dutch.