The Social Network
The script is the biggest and most integral character in the film.
When the news first hit that Aaron Sorkin was writing a script based on Facebook, there was a tangible mixture of excitement and despair. While the prospect of getting an insight into the inner machinations, scandals and salacious details of Mark Zuckerberg's rise to fame and infamy was titillating, would it really make for compelling viewing? Thankfully, the answer was in the affirmative. The Social Network is Sorkin's greatest triumph since Two Cathedrals. This isn't just a film about the founding of the most revolutionary online experience of our generation; this is a film about the stark egotism that comes with great intellect and a compulsive craving for the approval of others.
In what is essentially two parallel films – courtroom drama and distorted coming of age film – the scope of the piece remains focused on small, darkened rooms of invention on the Harvard campus as Zuckerberg sits angrily trying to create the ultimate dichotomy, a social medium where everyone can interact from separate rooms. With most of the action taking place in dorm rooms and boardrooms, there hides a danger that the characters and script could become stifled, but David Fincher's direction gives the film a real buoyancy in the muted, cold surroundings of Massachusetts.
The script is the biggest and most integral character in the film, re-establishing Sorkin as the genius we knew when Josiah Bartlet was POTUS, struggling with the burden of multiple sclerosis. Scenes race by like flashes of lightning with his trademark dialogue at its sharpest and most cutting, characters firing intellectual and personal blows against each other. Jesse Eisenberg has created something palpable in his role as Zuckerberg, painting stark portraits of the spite and bitterness that grows darkly when you're looking in at a world that you desperately want to be part of. The star of the film, however - though difficult to choose - has to be Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin; his earnest and impeccable portrayal of Zuckerberg's loyal friend brings such pathos to a film that could have been quite sterile in the hands of another cast and crew. He brings warmth to every scene, particularly against the hostility and ego of Justin Timberlake's Sean Parker. The only downside is the annoying sense of entitlement of the Winklevoss twins and Narendra, which is honest at first and strays closer to farce as the film goes on.
This film brings to the fore the loneliness of great success and a kind of cynicism and gloom you never would have seen in The West Wing. You see a single-mindedness and willingness in the characters to betray each other in order to achieve their own personal goals – whether it's Zuckerberg's use of the Winklevi's ideas for his own ends or the deliberate reduction of Saverin's stake in the company. The Social Network proves one thing definitively: networking is easy; making real friends is hard.
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