Title: The Social Network
Year Of Release: 2010
Review Date: February 28, 2011
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 110 minutes
Box Office Gross: $261,924,837
Site Rating: 5 out of 10 stars
Note: this review contains spoiler alerts. Warning: This film contains sexual situations, semi-nudity, lesbian scene, bad language and gambling.
"The Social Network" is the story of the Facebook website and how Mark Zuckerberg stole it from four people. The Oscar winning film, traces the site back to its roots in American universities. The idea began with an attempt to capitalize on university "facebooks" which are college websites containing the photos of students.
Zuckerberg hacked several prominent universities' sites, while he was a student at Harvard, in order to create a mean composite of the copyrighted data, know as "Facemash" which cruelly compared women to animals. The site was full of insults that offended many. So much so, Zuckerberg got into trouble at Harvard for this misconduct, but nothing substantial came of it.
Wealthy paternal twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their friend, Divya Narendra, read about Zuckerberg's computer abilities, which were exaggerated, as the basis for his coding and scripting work, came from his roommate, Brazilian, Eduardo Saverin.
The Winklevoss' and Narendra, met with Zuckerberg and pitched an idea to him of creating a website called "Harvard Connect" to contain photos, bios, blurbs and basic biographical data of university students. They all communicated by email, which later sunk Zuckerberg in legal proceedings, as it revealed a criminal line of intellectual property theft.
Zuckerberg agreed to design a site based on their idea and concept, also known as a webmaster. However, Zuckerberg later gave them the run around, stole their site idea and concept and used Saverin's computer code to create it.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
According to the film, Zuckerberg, who asked Saverin to borrow his mathematical code, did not tell him that he had stolen the idea and concept for the website. Zuckerberg had indeed stole Vinklevoss' and Narendra's site, changed the name to "Harvard Connect" and renamed it "TheFacebook."
It wasn't long before Zuckerberg stabbed Saverin in the back as well, cutting him out of Facebook, a site that is based on his algorithm and would not have been able to go online without him or his $28,000 investment.
Eventually, Saverin, Zuckerberg's only friend, sued him over this criminal betrayal, as did the Winklevoss' and Narendra. They all settled, but the Winklevoss' and Narendra, sued Zuckerberg again, for lying about profits.
Another thief and destroyer of other people's wealth, Napster's racketeering founder, the mentally unstable, Shawn Parker, also makes an appearance in this film, played by Justin Timberlake.
In a fair and just judicial system, the Winklevoss' and Narendra would be the major shareholders and CEOs of Facebook and Zuckerberg the webmaster on staff, head of the IT department. However, the justice system is too corrupt and full of bribery to right said wrong and to the government's embarrassment.
"The Social Network" made Zuckerberg look very crazy, mentally ill, weird, detached, devious and arrogant. Make no mistake, this film shows him as a complete and total villain, who has serious mental problems.
Zuckerberg is a criminal. There's no way around it. While watching this film, even my mother, who is usually sympathetic to people stated, "He should be in jail." And she is right. Not only did Zuckerberg brazenly steal other people's place in world history, he robbed them of their money as well.
He committed a laundry list of crimes, such as hacking, copyright infringement, criminal copyright infringement, invasion of privacy, the illegal distribution of digitized images and willful violations of the RICO statutes. That is conduct worthy of at least 30 years in prison.
President Obama (center) Mark Zuckerberg (right)
There is nothing legal about what Zuckerberg did and yet he is free, which says a lot about the government. Zuckerberg even met with fellow Harvard graduate, the President of the United States recently, which says a lot about Obama's attitude on corporate governance and crime.
Even the Harvard dean in the film, Larry Summers, was arrogantly and corruptly dismissive of the criminal conduct, which says a lot, as he was a high ranking U.S. government official (must be something in the water in Washington).
One cannot hold this madness up as the new business model or attempt to shine a light on it as an example of how to do business. The proof is in the pudding, as all this stealing that has been going on in the corporate sector, has all but destroyed the U.S. economy. Millions of people are suffering because of this corrupt business model and America is poorer than ever, due to this illegal redistribution of wealth. That is not success. It is not genuine. It is criminal.
Zuckerberg has the mentality of some in the corporate sector, such as Bernie Madoff, R. Allen Stanford and a number of thieving Hollywood stars and studios, such as Warner Bros., Sony, Madonna, Simon Cowell, Simon Fuller, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Nicolas Cage and Will Smith, to name a few, who believe they are to criminally steal their way into a lavish lifestyle, fame and glory.
They live by the credo of stealing and stepping on others, believing it will make them rich and famous, with no consequences. Never mind it hurts people and nations. It destroys them as well. A nation cannot function in this manner, as it is only a short matter of time before it will implode.
Months ago, on December 8, 2010, the Judiciary Report warned America is heading towards revolts, protests and uprisings and this was before the recent turmoil in nations such as Egypt, Bahrain and Libya this year (December 8, 2010: Ben Bernake Didn't See The Financial Crisis Coming).
America is currently on an unsustainable path, which will lead to mass poverty and complete financial ruin. This is due to the corrupt policies in Washington, allowing the corporate sector to commit any egregious financial and social crime they feel like, with impunity, to the detriment of the nation. This needs to stop. People are not going to continue tolerating it and the government is headed for an unprecedented disaster.