Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher reached a cultural zenith when their film “The Social Network” was released in 2010, a captivating business and legal drama on the invention of Facebook and the beginning of Mark Zuckerberg's career as a social media giant.
“The Social Network” still remains a relevant film today. It held and still holds a mirror in front of our current world that still values economic dominance over human connection. That film is like an artifact of the information age. Now, Aaron Sorkin has worked as both screenwriter and director for the new release ‘The Social Reckoning,” as a thematic sequel to “The Social Network.”
“The Social Reckoning” tells the real-life story of Facebook data scientist Frances Haugen and her exposure of Facebook algorithms that are clearly and purposely created to incite anger in its users. This anger then creates more activity from Facebook users, resulting in violent events.
Jeff Horowitz, an investigative reporter with the Wall Street Journal, worked secretly with Francis Haugen from 2019 to 2020, and ended up writing 17 articles in 2021 detailing the flaws in Facebook and how they cause harm.
“The Social Reckoning” is a moderately tense biographical conspiracy thriller, pitting one altruistic woman's voice against an enormously wealthy company that manages to avoid any social responsibility. A film like this is all about the real-world information it presents and the emotions that surface from it.
So, Aaron Sorkin is a great man for this job. He knows how to explain complex situations quickly and with a variety of voices. His use of language is so agile and rhythmic. Listening to his dialog feels like playing a clicking, clacking game of air hockey, or at least watching a game of air hockey.
Because this film is mostly about the internal documents and online functions internal to Facebook, the actors' performances don't feel that vital or absorbing. This makes the social reckoning similar to other heroic journalism pictures. “The Post” from 2017 and “She Said” from 2022.
Movie lovers likely don't remember how a certain actor or actress or bit of music made them feel in these films, but they will likely remember the information they learned and how that made them feel. But one performance in this film will stick in viewers' memories. That one being Jeremy Strong as Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Mr. Strong's portrayal is like an unstoppable nuclear submarine slowly gliding under the water, being so devoted to numbers, the bottom line, and projection accuracy, his humanity is overshadowed. His feelings don't disappear, but he does a brilliant job hinting at them, churning underneath his rigid face.
“The Social Reckoning” tries to be a patriotic clarion call, getting viewers to feel galvanized about free speech, misinformation, and holding corporate leaders accountable. But this patriotic bent at the end feels plucky and overly sentimental, like the film succumbed to predictable Hollywood charisma to be more attractive or palatable to more viewers.
This is most apparent when Francis Haugen asks why a basketball player on TV is pumping his fist in the air during a game.
Facebook's operations continue to pose serious threats to our world. That's why everyone should watch this film, not because of the cinematic experience it offers, but because of its real-life examples of capitalist malice and free democracy, both working successfully.
For Flix at 48, I'm Casey T. Allen.
