Review: The Social Network

For me, The Social Network has been a pretty hard sell. Like pretty much everyone on the planet, I use Facebook but I just did not see the point of a film documenting its inception. It was very surprising then that David Fincher's newest film may possibly end up being one of the better movies I have seen in a handful of months.

The Social Network focuses primarily on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg whom we join as he is dumped by his girlfriend and, in a drunken haze, at once belittles her in blog form and creates a proto-social network; Facemash. The uber-shallow website explodes overnight succeeding in crashing the Harvard campus Internet servers making Mark an overnight pseudo-celebrity. Enter twin, all-American rowing champions with an idea and Zuckerburg's own deep seeded need to show up his ex and it's only a matter of time before Facebook exists. Luckily for audience members, director Fincher chooses wisely to focus more on the characters involved in this story in relation to the earth shaking events unfolding around their invention than on the eponymous social network itself. Mark Zuckerburg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is painted here as an easily distracted genius prone to inadvertently being a gigantic jerk. I also couldn't shake the feeling that through either scripting or performance by Eisenberg, Mark comes off as almost autistic in his inability to interact or understand other human beings. Besides Zuckerburg, the film is most concerned with best friend Eduardo Saverin and consummate weasel and Napster creator Sean Parker. The film was smart enough to develop these characters to the point that once the events of the movie begin happening, the audience is fully invested in their reactions. Particularly in the friendship between Mark and Eduardo, the slow-burn approach to character building crescendos in a moment of real emotional pathos that leaves the viewer wishing things could be different somehow.

The Social Network is a good movie both story-wise and visually. The cinematography at work here at once evokes the somber tones of Fight Club and occasionally the daring camera angles and effects most commonly associated with fancy cologne ads. It's different and notable which, depending on your preference, makes it stand out in a film world where many outings end up playing it safe visually. In the end, it's not the biggest success in The Social Network's list of accomplishments, but in my mind it was noteworthy. The soundtrack and scoring by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor also earns a nod for being subdued when needed and not seeped in melodrama when impactful (save for one scene in which melodrama was perfectly suitable if not needed).

I found myself thinking about a few things during this movie and I feel they are worth mentioning. Seeing the machinations involved in creating something as massive and pervasive as Facebook is in our world today did wonders to make me feel, for lack of a better simile, like a cow to be herded. Here are a group of young minds with an idea that they know is so potent and powerful that people will instinctively flock to it were they only to see it. I think that as individuals we value the knowledge that our decisions are our own and that we are unique enough to be unlike everyone around us. What The Social Network makes abundantly clear to me in the real world is that humans are much more instinctively group-minded in the face of a powerful idea than anyone is likely to want to admit openly. Speaking from experience, Facebook was such an intoxicating idea that I remember waiting impatiently for my own allowance to join. From the early exclusivity of needing a college email address to the ability to have a peek into your friends' lives at any time of the day; it's actually a little frightening to think that this very same reaction was shared by millions across the globe. If nothing else, it's enough to make one feel small -- like a grain of sand in an endless desert to be counted by minds far greater than your own.

While watching The Social Network I found myself continually amused by the enormity of the idea. Of course, the story and characters are all worth the time and present a gripping narrative throughout; but it's the idea of an idea being a force of nature which drives the central plot of this film. An idea can change the world, as corny as that sounds, and woe to the people who conceive of it. This is The Social Network's chief message as well as its crowning achievement.