Movie Review: The Social Network

Release 2010

Director- David Fincher

Jessie Eisenberg as Mark Zukerberg

Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Sverin

Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker

Rooney Mara as Erica Albright

This movie based on Ben Merzrich's book "The Accidental Billionaires" which was written largely with the help of Eduardo Saverin, tells the story of what is regarded by many as one of our era's cornerstones- Facebook. In my opinion this is a truely educational movie, however it is unsuitable to watch in educational institutions (sex, drugs, alcohol). Zukerberg is one of the central figures shaping our lives and every kid or adult using his products (Facebook, Whatsapp, Instegram, Messenger) should watch this film to understand the magnitude of this tool. In this film, just like many other films which follow the lives of great personalities we see that their success is rooted in their ability to see into the future. According to this movie Facebook was not Zukerberg's idea, however it was he who understood the potential and developed the idea into what it is today. This could be compared with a botanical expert taking a walk in the Amazon rainforest and myself taking the same walk. The expert will be able to recognize and understand the significance of sighting a nearly extinct specimen of a rare flower he/she might stumble across, whereas I, unlike the expert will obviously remain obliviously indifferent and ignorant, thus I  will simply walk on by.

The story told in the film represents Eduardo Saverin's point of view. Saverin along with the Winklevoss twins did sue Zukerberg thus Saverin's intention is to demonstrate his relevant and righteous claim that he was tricked out of Facebook and the twins were subjected to intellectual theft. In my opinion the film does not serve as a noticeboard to demonstrate their rightous claim for compensation, rather it reveals how the intellectual superiority demonstrated by Zukerberg turns Severin and the twins into mere jumping boards. 

The Social Network is a very intense film, full of dense dialogues which require the viewer's full attention. The story is told in an intellectually challenging way giving us a raw glimps of what geek fever can amount to.