Thoughts and Paper: Review: Free To Play

Documentary is probably my least favorite genre, however, I'm going to admit that most documentaries captures the spirit of film more so than any other genres of film (well, in my opinion anyways). In this review, we are going to dive into the lives of professional gamers in what is probably one of the most memorable tournaments in gaming history. Is this just a way to get people to gaming or is it a way to show how these gamers truly love their life? Click on the jump and check out my thoughts!

Synopsis:

FREE TO PLAY is a feature-length documentary that follows three professional gamers from around the world as they compete for a million dollar prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament. In recent years, E Sports has surged in popularity to become one of the most widely-practiced forms of competitive sport today. A million dollar tournament changed the landscape of the gaming world and for those elite players at the top of their craft, nothing would ever be the same again. Produced by Valve, the film documents the challenges and sacrifices required of players to compete at the highest level. (c) Official Site

Much like the title, the film is free-to-watch too (I'll give you the link later). In this documentary, we follow three gamers and Fear (Clinton Loomis), Dendi (Daniil Ishutin) and Hy-hy (Benedict Lim). As we follow the lives of these gamers, we get to see more from them, their training, their sacrifices and most of all their dedication. I am not a big fan of gaming (although I still play once in a while) and when I played DOTA before, it never really did clicked to me but through this documentary I got to see how important this game is to other people, why? It is because this is a means of escape to them and also a means to connect with other people. I liked how this documentary showed that because not many people can relate to gamers and through this form of documentary we can resonate with them on how much they love a certain thing as much as how we love doing a certain activity.

Another thing that this docu did perfectly is how they interlocked the stories of the three gamers, in each of their stories we got to see how they were introduced in this technology and how they were introduced in the gaming industry. It leaves a lot of impact to the viewer because this docu was also able to parallel the stories of our leading "characters" and if you don't know the result of this tournament, you can't help but root for the three of them even though they are part of different teams.

One last positive thing I have to say about this documentary is how well the animated DOTA fights were done. They integrated well onto the overall tone of the documentary because through this animation it was able to transition to the next scene and it was also able to be a huge part of the entertainment aspect of the film. Plus, it was a really good animation.

Lastly, now that I have shared my positives, it's time to share my one and only complaint in this documentary. While they made the "characters" relatable to our lives, it's just so cliched that they made them sympathetic. Don't get me wrong, I like it when I have sympathy for the characters in non-fictional/fictional movies but when it's in documentary format, sometimes it can get overused and at the end, it may even feel a bit dragging since it is mostly the formula used in documentaries.

Overall:
Free-To-Play is one great documentary that serves a great insight to professional gamers. This is a documentary where I can say that I truly did understand where these gamers are coming from because it is both relatable and sympathetic (although too much of the latter became exhausting by the end). I truly enjoyed this docu and it may end up as one of my favorite films this year.

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