Ben X
A Belgian film from 2007 about an teenager with Aspergers syndrome who has some difficulties dealing with the world and is tormented by his classmates. He seeks solace in an MMORPG, ArchLord, where he has a friend, Scarlite. After a particularly nasty bit of bullying, Ben considers suicide.
While not a darling of Dutch-language critics, the film did please the public, won some international prizes, and was the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar (it did not get a nomination).
The film was written and directed by Nic Balthazar, a Belgian presenter. It's based on a book and play, Niets was alles wat hij zei, also written by Nic Balthazar. It was based on the story of a Belgian teenager with Aspergers.
Tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: Played with.
- Awesome but Impractical: Arguably, the 'death cross' that Ben constructs later on in the movie. Hint: It doesn't exactly work
- Based On a True Story: The book was based on the story of a Belgian teenager with ASD unlike Ben, this lad's suicide attempt succeeded.
- The Bully: The bullies, in this case -- Bogaert and Desmet.
- Dawson Casting: While Ben is in one of his last years of secondary school, the actor playing him, Greg Timmermans, was 27 when the film was shot.
- Driven to Suicide: He considers this, as the summary might imply. Near the end of the film it's revealed that Ben's got suicide-related books and other end-your-life paraphernalia.
- It's also subverted/played with slightly in the ending
- The Film of the Book
- Gamer Chick: Scarlite.
- Happily Ever After
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Ben uses an iPod with loud music to drown out the noises in the street and to keep people from talking to him.
- It Got Worse: Yep.
- Jerkass: Bogaert, Desmet... nearly everybody at Ben's school.
- Imaginary Friend: In the Scarlite that seemingly meets Ben in person, as it's revealed at the end of the movie
- Kids Are Cruel: Especially his 'best friends' Bogaert and Desmet.
- And they've been cruel to Ben since a very young age.
- "Kids like him don't stand a chance. They're easy prey."
- Meaningful Rename: Ben X, when pronounced in Dutch, sounds the like "Ben niks", which means "Am nothing".
- Never Bring a Knife To A Fist Fight: Ben crafts a real-life version of Arch Lord's 'death cross', and tries to defend himself against his tormentors when they corner him again and take his cellphone. It doesn't work because he does not actually know how to wield a knife.
- The Quiet One: Ben.
- Tomato Surprise: Ben's online girlfriend Scarlite actually left the train station without recognizing him; the version of her that kept him from killing himself and helped him develop his plan was a hallucination.
- The Woobie: Oh god, Ben.