The Social Network

               The late 90’s saw the Y2K problem emerging and experts started stating that the World Wide Web will be a part of our life in the future. In the first half of 2000, WWW became a part of life. By 2010, facebook has become a part of the entire biosphere rather than other things. I am really surprised by the stat that every 14th individual on this planet has a profile on facebook. Great tool to really get connected with your friends from your school, colleges, neighbourhood, work place among others and thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, we are really connected. Indeed we are, and here we have David Fincher, making a masterpiece – The Social Network. It had all the element to it and the story was backed by a very strong screen play and screen presence. After all, when you feel that this billion dollar venture was driven primarily by Zuckerberg’s girl friend, you slightly have that tingling effect across your cells. I did know parts of the history of facebook, thanks to Discovery Channels’ The Story of Internet, but this movie really pulled it through. Though, this has been based on the adaptation of book “The Accidental Billionaires”, I still feel this is one movie that is really worth watching rather than worth reading. Zuckerberg is shown as a weird guy who is a bit socially inept but highly talented. There is that bizarreness surrounding Zuckerberg’s personality who is more intended on succeeding and making it big in life rather than being a social networker. Here is a guy who has created the most powerful social networking tool but does not really network himself. 

              

               Coming back to the movie, the movement of the script which goes to and fro is really pulsating and you don’t really want to take your eyes of the screen. Three characters – Zuckerberg, Eduardo and Sean Parker really drive the movie ahead and each of them has been portrayed remarkably. At one point, you really feel a bit sorry for Eduardo and start questioning the real motives of Sean Parker (thanks to Justin Timberlake). But the real essence is that here you have the story of the youngest billionaire in this world in front of you for little less than 2 hours. This indeed is a story about a generation that really haunted the Internet space and venture capitalist firms with their beliefs and ideas.
             

              This certainly is an appealing and visual treat of the events that led to arguably the most influential invention of the early 2000’s. The ending was a bit jaded but “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies,” perfectly conveys the inherent dramatic quirk of fate. I also feel, this story is not “The Facebook Movie” but it’s about ideas, betrayal, the costs and burden of triumph and relations. If you are a frequent user of facebook and know ‘The Wall’, ‘Like’ and ‘Poke’ buttons, go watch this one. In other words, you don’t really have to know what the “Like” or “The Wall” buttons are to appreciate this film.  The Social Network is for people who like elegant, engaging and thoughtful films.

Welcome to the Facebook!