Movie Review: The Social Network

Even if you aren't familiar with The Social Network, you've no doubt heard of Facebook, the incredibly popular website that inspired it. The site boasts over 500 million users, but it didn't get there by accident. Every massive success story started somewhere, and The Social Network suggests that Facebooks is filled with backstabbing, thievery and unchecked ambition. How much of that is true is left to the audience.

A lot has been said about whether or not this movie -- and the book that it is based on -- is even remotely accurate. There are so many parties involved, with motives of how their "side" is portrayed, that it's a useless exercise to try and figure it out. What The Social Network does do is tell an engaging and, ultimately, timely story about our generation's desire for connection. What's fact and what's fiction doesn't matter. William Randolph Hearst was the basis for Citizen Kane and he didn't appreciate it one bit. Mark Zuckerberg is the launchpad for this story and it's obvious that he wouldn't like what he sees in this mirror.

Told through depositions and flashbacks, the film paints a pretty straightforward origin story. Harvard parties, late-night computer coding, unimaginable success, exploding friendships and vindictive enemies. All of this has been expertly woven into a frighteningly cohesive picture by David Fincher, even though he's never used the site himself. One might be forgiven for doubting how the master behind Seven and Fight Club would approach this material, but he's proven himself capable of creating characters and atmosphere (the man never met a dark hallway he didn't like) where lesser men might have made do with easily-defined villains and heroes.

Nobody in The Social Network is perfect. Everyone has ulterior motives (be it greed, popularity or just acceptance), and how they go about trying to earn their place in society is the movie's focus. It attempts to show a man who is feverish in his pursuit for the understanding of those around him, even if he inherently despises them for not being worthy of his attention. Whether or not this is accurate doesn't matter, it's the heart of the film and it works wonderfully. Fincher has one more masterpiece to add to his collection and we all have one more amazingly complicated movie to use as a reflection of our society.

Score: 5 out of 5
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