What an a-hole!

Rating: 10/10 (28 October 2010)

OK, ever since the talks began about making a film about the social network, Facebook, my expectations weren't really high. First i was like meh, a film about Facebook? Is Hollywood running out of ideas? Then it was announced Fincher was going it make it and my hopes went really high and until the film got released i didn't even think about it much. Once it came in, it got rave reviews and it was universally acclaimed i told myself i was going to watch this one. Finally I got a chance to watch it only yesterday and i should say i went in with a really open mind(I really didn't want the reviews i read to have any influence on my opinion about the film).
Coming to the film, this is one of those rare ones where you are only moments into it and you already know it is going to be awesome. The whole film is basically a courtroom drama that is beautifully plotted with flashback scenes. It starts with a flashback scene where Mark breaks up with Erica and thats where the intricate character study of the creator of Facebook starts. In this scene, Mark who just got a perfect SAT score patronizes his girlfriend(and does much more worse things) saying how intelligent he is and how she could go places if she were more supportive. It was like a mini class war only between two people in a different IQ range, and not really about money. And that scene was just about the kick start for the viewers to anticipate how far this Harvard undergrad will go to get fame and recognition(and boy did he go far?!).
The film is a must for essentially everyone who is totally into the Facebook phenomenon. Not one day goes(a few hours for that matter) without us logging into Facebook and checking friends' status updates, making our own, pictures of kitties and so on. And what this film does is, it gives us a glimpse of how this all came into existence. If it weren't for the jerk who did what he did, we wouldn't be able to 'facebook' with our friends.
The film is not just about Mark, it is also about the people he deserts on his way to success(a really lonely one). Every character has been etched really finely, from Eduardo to the Winklevosses to the Sapster guy, Sean.
That said, one must not forget the script by Sorkin. If it weren't for him and Fincher the film would have been half as good with the seemingly trivial story. The dialogs are very powerful and the unusually fast delivery of them actually adds to the mood(that we are among a bunch of nerds with ultra high IQ).
The final scene where the junior lawyer tells Mark that the jury may not be in his favor stating certain reasons such as his 'likability', it is a particularly important one in the film. That reveals some of the deplorable thing that Mark did(like, when she asks him why he wasn't there at Sean's party) that otherwise would have gone unrevealed. That totally was a punch in the face telling how far he could go(really!).
This film is a very sad one about what has made our generation and how selfish, deplorable monsters have gone on to become models for aspiring entrepreneurs and such. We live in a very strange epoch where there is absolutely no moral code. Though i am fully aware that some incidents in the film were added to actually dramatize the film and the whole film is not to be faithfully taken as what actually happened, even a small part of it to have happened would be too awful to be true!