Love makes people do strange things. From committing suicide to taking the world in its stride, the history is full of such losers and heroes. This is what happened with Mark Zuckerberg when this young chap suffering from inferiority complex gave birth to world’s most successful social network – Facebook.
Officially “The Social Network” has not released in India and its first screening happened in MAMI Festival, Mumbai. Why not give Mark “Facebook” Zukerberg a taste of his own medicine and find if I can find a copy online, was the only thought that came to my mind. Little did people realize that Mark has been a first class hacker when I was at the university. He hacked in to the student databases of all other universities to download the student picture on to his computer to set up “Facemash” – Hot or Not avtar of Facebook, and for doing this, he was asked to leave the university.
For the film aficionados, David Fincher is a name to be taken with greatest of reverence. Now, I wouldn’t mind googling a bit for dope on David but his taut screenplays and superbly crafted cult classics have been a part of Hollywood folklore. This time David takes detour to make “The Social Network” based on a book called “The accidental billionaires”. Not too sure about the love life David has had but the portrayal of Mark by Jesse Eisenberg shows his deep understanding of the genius Mark is.
The Social Network called Facebook was born out of rejection. History is full of people who changed the world but little is known about heroes who went out with vengeance, took the world in their stride and made a mark on the history of this world; all due to a failed relationship.
David has made some really amazing yet dark thrillers and they are considered as textbooks and have massive fan following across the globe – Be it “Seven” where Brad Pitt is on a wild chase for a strange killer who picks up on people accused of committing one of the seven deadly sins. Or be it “The Game” where Michael Douglas becomes a part of virtual game at the insistence of his brother Sean Penn and goes on a ride in the dark, murky world of crime. Or “Fight Club” which catapulted Brad Pitt to the world of most desirable men. Not to forget “The panic Room” or the “Zodiac’. One thing that David does very well is that he outclasses himself in each one of his movies. His last offering was a movie that I cherish the most for two different reasons – One, because it is based on a secret desire nurtured by mankind “Rewind to Relive” and two, because I saw it with someone who is really close to my heart.
And just when you think David has produced a master-piece, he outclasses again by offering an intense and brooding cinema wrapped in an glitzy way. The story of a man who has 500 million friends (and counting) and a few enemies – Mark Zuckerberg. Born on May 14th, 1984, Mark launched Facebook in Feb, 2004 and within 6 years, it has over 500 million users registered on what is now being touted as the game changer in the world of internet.
While the film is based on the book called “The accidental Billionaires” and the film is not a biopic but is in a superb story-telling form of Mark’s marginally fictionized life, the cinema is an incredible watch. It shows Mark in a very human light. His character is quite grey as opposed to what he would like to be portrayed as. The movie is intense, tight and though not a thriller, moves with a pace which is unbelievable.
The casting of the film is mind-blowing. Jesse Eisenberg is not a top of the league name but his portrayal of the geeky, under-confident and arrogant Mark deserves a standing ovation. He plays is cool with restrained anger. Trying to find out a logical, larger than life achievement just to prove a point to the girl who rejected her because he was not a part of the elite group but just an ordinary geek who could not hold a conversation without getting agitated. It’s my way or highway or rather its Mark-way or highway. Jesse does justice to the role of an always seek, always shy, almost whimsical. He has the eyes of a hurt and shy guy who can not handle people looking at him. He wants to be on the higher pedestal so that people can look up to him. The wicked twitch on his lips, the smile that says “Fuck you morons, I am Mark Zuckerberg and you all will suck up to me for that”.
Just to throw a lesser known fact, Facebook’s blue will never change as Mark is partially color blind to reds and greens. I remember, when I joined Facebook at some one’s insistence, I was primarily hooked to the zillions of applications and tests and which XYZ are you and what is your favorite sexual position etc. Eventually, I grew out of it and kept on accepting and rejecting friend requests. While orkut was a poor man’s social network, Facebook was classy and had a snooty appeal to it (kinda lost the sheen though). I have been on Facebook from 2006 and I think I spend time on it practically every single day, now just to update my status and read reactions from people and play “Mafia Wars”. There have been days where I have not only enjoyed the quizzes to comparing myself and my friends to write elaborate notes on the state of my mind so movie reviews to upload pictures and be as social as I could be. Facebook, in my opinion, works for the hidden geek in all of us who harbor the ambition to be a person with crazy fan following, a higher pedestal for our extreme amount of useless knowledge, to seek comment on the almost prophetic status messages and an outlet for our mental diarrhea. But what makes Facebook special is that it all started as an exclusive club. The exclusive club for Harvardians and now we all are a part of it. Remember the days when gmail account was available only via invite.
Coming back to the cinema, the movie has its moments, ups and downs, some scenes which could have been inserted and some scenes which could have been shot differently to make a grander impact. Yet, no one’s complaining. During its debut weekend in the United States, the film opened at #1 grossing an estimated $23 million in 2,771 theaters.[51] In its second weekend it was #1 again, dropping only 31.2%, breaking Inception's 32.0% record as the smallest second weekend drop for any #1 movie of 2010, and being the third smallest overall behind Secretariat's 25.1% drop and Tooth Fairy's 28.6% drop. As of October 31, 2010 the film has grossed $79.7 million in the United States and $32.2 million overseas for a worldwide total of $111.9 million.
It is just a superb, tight and taut thriller story of a social network. Story of a dorm room where in a drunken state after the rejection by a girl, Mark created Facebook. It’s a story of hurt, rejected in love boy who was all of 20 when he built the biggest internet revolution since google and today Facebook has more pictures uploaded on it than “Picasa” and more videos uploaded on it than “youtube”. Facebook has converged it all. Today, when every single person on the face of this earth would want to be a friend of Mark Zuckerberg, he is watching all this unfolding in front of his own eyes. With a few friends he hurt on his way up, with a few people whom he rubbed the wrong way, he watches his life being unveiled and appreciated by another 500 million people across the globe and he is staring at his computer screen on the Facebook profile page of Erica Albright where “Awaiting Friend Confirmation” status has not changed to “Mark Zuckerberg and Erica Albright are now friends”.
I dedicate this to the girl who made my Facebook account and asked for a promise to never delete it, come what may! So, I keep my promise – Awaiting Friend Confirmation.
