The Social Network, 500 million friends and counting

Jordan Wilson
Staff Writer

Whether or not writer Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for David Fincher’s new film “The Social Network” is 100 percent factual or fictional is completely irrelevant.

What really matters is that Sorkin has managed to sum up the culture of an entire generation in the span of two hours, and has done so in an encompassing and electrifying manner.

The story of Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is fascinating in and of itself. While attending Harvard University in 2003, Eisenberg’s character meets and dates a girl named Erica, played by Rooney Mara.

In the opening scene of the film, they sit in a crowded bar room talking about Chinese people, finals clubs and rowing crew; all at break-neck speed in classic Aaron Sorkin fashion—if you’ve ever seen an episode of “The West Wing,” then you know what the man is capable of.

It’s essentially a short film, and right away we realize that Eisenberg is doing work he will be remembered for.

Erica dumps Mark just before informing him that the reason girls don’t like him is not because he is a geek, but because he is an asshole. Mark returns to his dorm room and blogs about her in a rage, and then hacks into several online university records systems with help from his friend Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield. He quickly designs a program called “fashmash.com” that allows people to compare girls’ “hotness.”

The stunt gets Mark in big trouble after it crashes Harvard’s computer systems, but it also gets the attention of the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler (both played by Armie Hammer plus body double,) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella,) who want his help in developing their idea for a social networking website called “Harvard Connection.” Mark then pursues his own idea, secretly branching off of “Harvard Connection,” and calls it “thefacebook.com.”

He and Eduardo spread word of the website and soon, colleges all over New England are accessing it. When it reaches Stanford University, Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, inventor of the online music sharing engine “Napster,” gets word, and enters the lives of Zuckerberg and Severin to help advance the website to its farthest limits and make a whole lot of money doing it. His charisma and intelligence impress Mark, and Eduardo is quickly left behind after Mark moves out to California, taking Sean’s advice. Parker also suggests losing the “the” in his website, leaving it simply as “facebook.com.”

Throughout the film, Fincher cuts from Zuckerberg developing Facebook, to two separate trials in which he is being sued. On one side, he is being sued by his friend/co-creator Eduardo, and on the other the Winklevoss twins. It seems that he is innocent of the charges on one end, but guilty on the other – but either way, if Zuckerberg the person is anything like Zuckerberg the character, than his foresight of what people really want from the Internet (to see a bunch of information about people they know or meet) and his endurance in making that foresight a reality is truly a marvel.

Sorkin writes Zuckerberg as a socially inept, extraordinarily brilliant kid whose sharp wit and piercing sarcasm push many away, including Erica, the one girl who drives him in his pursuit of creating an online social experience unlike any other. There have been comparisons between this film and “Citizen Kane,” and it’s not uncalled for: Mark coldly makes his way up the social network ladder, becomes the world’s youngest billionaire, and yet there is still one person that tortures his soul. Erica is his “rosebud.”

Eisenberg’s performance is perfect, in that the audience can see his gears turning at all times. It’s a benchmark for the young actor, whose previous work in films like “Zombieland” and “Adventureland” showed definite promise, now that promise has bloomed into one of the most intriguing performances of the past decade.  He is also surrounded with a terrific supporting cast. Justin Timberlake hits all the right notes as the semi-antagonistic Parker, and Armie Hammer, until now an unknown, is an exceptional actor that audiences should look out for.

The score by Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross is one of the most chilling and beautiful ever produced in recent memory. It feels like another character in the film, as its subtlety and grace blend, rather than distract.

“The Social Network” is a film that must be experienced first hand. The script is so incisive and quick that it transcends traditional speech to become something like a symphony. Sorkin’s style is like “Flight of the Bumblebee” played at twice its original tempo, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot look away from the screen. There is an Oscar nomination in his future—and perhaps a win. The same can be said for David Fincher’s direction – it’s hard to imagine having to work with such a swift script as Sorkin has crafted here, and to do it justice, but Fincher is more than up to task. Alongside 2007’s “Zodiac,” this is easily his best film.

Grade: A+

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