Creating a modern epic

The Social Network (2010)
Certified: 14
Duration: 121 minutes
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song,Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella
KRS release

First off, I am not on Facebook, have no interest to be on Facebook and therefore had little interest in The Social Network. However, I was stunned by director David Fincher’s gripping movie.

Mr Fincher’s film is not only a sign of the times, but also a statement for a whole generation, a documentation of how communication methods are changing and with them the social structure as we know it.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. It’s the year 2003 and Zuckerberg is a Harvard student. He is a genius but not a very sociable person. However, he is obsessed with breaking every social structure that seems to impede him from becoming popular. He longs to form part of the Harvard elite and in the process ends up offending his girlfriend Erica (Mara Rooney). Their break-up leads to him venting his anger against her on his online blog and to the creation of a site where Harvard female students are given points on their looks.

As soon as Zuckerberg becomes popular, he gets into trouble as he has hacked into the school’s computer systems. Along come twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) and elite club member Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) who want Zuckerberg to create a Harvard dating website. But he goes beyond the dating scope and creates The Facebook with financial backing from Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Gar­field), a fellow student and his only friend.

Soon the system spreads to other schools, and Mark and Ed­uardo start having groupies, parties and Sean Parker (an excellent Justin Timberlake), the man behind Napster, joining the fray.

It’s Parker who leads to the dropping of the article “The” from Facebook. Friction arises as Eduardo starts getting pushed to the side and the Winklevoss twins file lawsuits. However, Facebook’s popularity continues to rise.

Mr Fincher, the man behind such modern classics as Seven (1995) and Fight Club (1999), is helped in no small manner by Aaron Sorkin, one of Hollywood’s best scriptwriters, who has delivered a rich and focused dialogue. The film is structured around two different lawsuits being delivered at the same time and flashbacks to the origin of Facebook.

The Social Network shows how much life and our perceptions of “public” and “private” have changed in less than a decade. Today everyone is plugged in 24/7. This has changed the way we live and talk, with the term “Facebook me” being such an example.

It’s also a testament to the troubles and dangers of a lifestyle that courts disaster. Epics of times gone by would have been symbolised by sword battles, quests and the ideal of honour and love. The Social Nework is the modern epic, focused on desktops, lifestyle and money.

Times They Are a-Changin sang Bob Dylan and nowhere is this more evident than in this fun, intense and finely-crafted piece of movie-making; one that will be considered for the main awards come Oscar time.