Once we built things, now we build websites.

Rating: 9/10 (2 October 2010)

As further evidence of the decadence of modern society, this movie fits the bill. In the nineteenth century the electric light replaced the candle; the telephone replaced the telegraph. These were two landmark inventions that changed the world for the better and marked new developments in technology that benefited all of mankind. Then in the twentieth century came the airplane and penicillin, two more inventions that changed the world forever. Then in 2003 came ... Facebook! Wow! According to the movie, this cyber-network was launched by an angry computer geek who stole the idea from three snobs at Harvard who in turn were determined to make the geek pay for his thievery. The story seems shallow but is actually a compelling and fascinating as the movie shows how one person became the center of a whirlwind over something that is little more than a toy. Unlike the financial barons of the past, who dealt with railroads, steel mills, coal mines and oil refineries, our modern day billion-dollar entrepreneurs are computer-savvy operatives who create web networks. It's not exactly building a factory or creating anything actually new. There are no new technological breakthroughs, nothing that improves the condition of the human race. Rather, these new "captains of industry" are creating playthings, gimmicks, facilitating a service that is intangible, that people cannot consume but meets a need to feel connected in a world in which one can feel very alone. Jessie Eisenberg gives an incredible performance as the main character in this movie. He projects the main character's personal shallowness, intellectual narrowness, mental disturbance, sociopathic inclinations and essential nastiness. Whether this unflattering portrayal is a true depiction of the actual founder of Facebook is another question, but if it is, then he has serious problems. In the nineteenth century the United States built the transcontinental railroad; in the twentieth century discovered atomic power and placed men on the moon; and now in the twenty-first century there is a program that allows millions of people to communicate by computer. Wow! Better get yourself a pc so you can get online and start communicating with all your friends and neighbors and employees and fellow human beings, and maybe even with aliens from outer space if you believe in that. Oops! You're not computer literate? No problem! Leave it to a "computer-savvy" college student to invent a computer program designed specifically for the computer illiterate, THEN build a website, and then let the whole world know that now EVERYONE, even the most staunchly computer illiterate, can now communicate by pc, for a price. But if somebody does invent such a program and launches such a website, remember: IT WAS MY IDEA!!! and if you steal it I will sue ... and I won't go complaining to the college president first.