Free to Play

Was just expecting it to be good but not that good, brought tears to my eyes after seeing professional gamers using a trash desk, few notebooks and borrowed CRT monitor to fulfill their dreams. Its pretty hard for gamers to manage studies, gaming, social life, and professional life together yet they do it. Its really sad to see that gaming industry haven't flourished in developing countries yet like some of the Asian countries including Pakistan & India where there are too many passionate gamers who never had a chance to show their set of skills internationally and they might possess more than the gamers we know these days. Hats off Valve, you made us gamers proud.

What a fascinating movie! Different people, different lifestyles, different languages, different reasons to play, different ambitions, different feelings... Just one game to gather them all. An e-sports movie that can make you cry, smile, proud and so on. In my opinion Dota 2 is UNIQUE. Unique with its quality, players, teams, coaches, casters, fans, community, visuals, tournaments... It has the soul. To win or lose is not the point. Success is something we always look forward to. I clap for these three success stories. The movie is so impressive. Congratulations to everyone has a role to make this movie. My hat goes off to Valve.

Amazing production from valve, a great documentary showing how games are changing life's of several people out there.

The movies fallow's 3 guys, showing all that games and the E-sports market could do for their life's.

A heart touching, beautiful and emotional movie that can be watched by nerds or even the grandpas...

At first, me as a gamer was expecting a OK movie, but the value put in the production was so big, that i really got caught unprepared for this.

And this movie really show things that the population is'nt ready for it yet the new market of athletes with brains, skills, determination and strategy.

Games are there, constructing a new legion of fans that i'll be proud of being part

Video game producer Valve Corporation's Free To Play is an essential film for documentary lovers and video game enthusiasts. At a light 75 minute running time, it's an accessible pill to swallow, one naturally only brushing the surface, but in an entertaining way. The documentary details the events of The International 2011 based in Germany, the first gaming tournament for the game DOTA 2 with a record-breaking top prize of $1.6 million. Unfortunately as many of its players are teenagers, the tournament was scheduled during exam periods and many potential winners had to sacrifice a lot at home just for the chance at the jackpot.

However, the film wisely chooses three competitors from different teams to sum up the ethos of the tournament and its players, dipping into their backstories at will. They include a Singaporean player who's dealing with a broken heart and a disapproving family, an American player who's suffered from a life of financial trouble and a Ukrainian player who's father recently passed away. Their passion for gaming always shines through. Although many times their stories feel like the typical sob stories you find in entertainment shows, they add an essential conflict and internal desire to the story to make it more engaging. Their hardships are quite down to Earth and relatable, if somewhat sentimentally presented. It at least humanizes the players in a way that makes it feel like the tournament have more camaraderie with something at stake.

You don't need to know anything about DOTA 2 to enjoy the film as it features entertaining and impressive CGI interpretations of the battle, but still as a non-gamer it is difficult to see why the fuss over the game is warranted. It's the one thing that the documentary is lacking on, but it doesn't hinder it too much. Free To Play's main objective is to legitimize the career of a professional gamer, and it works quite well, making it quite tempting. Lacking a credited director, you can only assume that its lead editor had the biggest influence regarding a consistent style and focus, other than the current heads of Valve. Even so, the style is still quite distinct in its slick intimate look, use of text and contemporary choice of electronic music. It's a film that feels breezy and fresh, just trying to bring attention to the next big thing in popular culture, though it's arguable that it's already here. The e-sport will soon become a plain old sport.

8/10

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Great documentary about the topic e-sports and the actual players behind it. The focus lies on 3 professional dota2 players (Dendi, hyhy and fear) and their way to, and eventually in, the biggest e-sports-tournament (1000.000$ prize pool), back to the date in 2011, but focuses not only on their gaming career but also on their familiar background and displays the flaws and positive aspects of the correlation. A further aspect is the difference between the 3 protagonists and their motivation which led them to gaming. I really sympathized with them in the end.

The movie was very well shot and got me easily entertained through the 75 minutes, although it was a little bit overly clichéd sometimes (keyword: hyhy's relationship) and people could say that the movie polarizes a bit, but that's only nitpicking. Though the international was nearly 3 years ago, I still got goosebumps by watching this and its also nice to see that e-sports is getting more and more of a deal.

Beside the fact that serious documentaries about this topic are hard to come by these days, I would definitely recommend it.

9/10