A STORY WE ALL REALLY SHOULD KNOW - THE STORY OF THE SOCIAL NETWORK!

For whatever reason, I very rarely seem to review films that are actually on in the cinemas. That is because my job dictates that I watch a large number of films a couple of months after they are in cinemas. I don’t like seeing films twice (except for the classics naturellement) and thus my blog ends up being slightly “willy nilly” and all over the place – and also largely dependant on my mood at the time. However, I will break with tradition this week and discuss something that is actually on / or was on very recently – David Fincher’s film “The Social Network”. It’s a fascinating idea of course I mean Facebook is pretty much the phenomenon that defines our generation. Even not being on it is considered a sort of statement… Naturally, Mark Zuckerberg – the youngest billionaire of all times – is a valid point of interest. And his story is interesting to say the very least…

It’s a story a lot of us know somehow but let’s run through the basics again. Mark Zuckerberg was a highly successful student at Harvard University. He is a genius computer programmer even if not the most popular student on campus. He then comes up with the idea of a social networking website or allegedly he steals the original idea from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss we don’t know and I don’t want to comment as it was part of a very VERY large lawsuit and the film doesn’t particularly comment on it either. Suffice to say that Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg – of whom I had heard of but funnily enough never seen in anything) with the financial aid and support of his best (and only) friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield – remember I told you about him in the Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus). As we all know, the whole thing was a HUGE hit and began to grow, attracting the attention of many people, among them Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake – now I don’t know which camp you’re on and I’m not a fan but credit where it’s due the guy CAN act). Sean Parker is a bit of a loose canon with great ideas, charm and charisma. Mark and he seem to be almost made for each other and Sean is very soon part of the company. There is one person he doesn’t charm however – the company’s C.F.O and main founder Eduardo. That is where things start getting… A little awkward…

Now, the film is, I think, brilliant. Then again, I’m biased – I think the director David Fincher is brilliant (Fight Club, Zodiac and Seven are among my favorite films of all times). I am also a healthy addict of Facebook so who am I to complain? The film is honest; our hero Mark Zuckerberg is by no means a “huggable” character. Jesse Eisenberg does a brilliant job of portraying the socially awkward but amazingly intelligent Zuckerberg. Plus Andrew Garfield is growing on me – kinda like a rash. This film is a very good example of why I love true stories – films about real life. The characters are not “perfect” they act emotionally; sometimes they make bad decisions… I know that these guys have achieved fame and fortune and now live lives far beyond most of our means; HOWEVER, the film is completely approachable for this reason. And this is also why it’s different from the 10 a penny “American Dream” movies out there. The film is REAL. Not just in the sense that it is a real story but emotionally real and grounded and easy to relate to. But then again there is nothing I loathe more in a film than “perfect” characters which is why a) I’m slightly biased b) 15 minutes into the film I had a broad grin all over my face and was thinking “Ok, this is gonna be interesting.

What else? Well, you would be wrong to think this film is going to be very “geeky” and “computery” and incomprehensible. Yes, Facebook is an online phenomenon but it is also a social phenomenon that has taken over the world in case you hadn’t noticed. It is about people. In this case, specifically about the people that created a website that is a concrete part of our lives… Which is why on one level, it can be said that one may consider knowing this story part of basic general culture.