Pirates of Silicon Valley is a 1999 film directed by Martin Burke. It is based on the book "Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer" by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. It was released in June 20, 1999. It stars Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs and Anthony Hall as Bill Gates.The film narrates the creation of the PC's and the past of both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, as they build the first personal computers and they fundate Apple Inc. and Microsoft. It shows us the history to know how the current technology and their main corporations were created.
Plot
The film starts with the 1984 Apple's advertisement announcing the first Macintosh computer. It then shows Steve Jobs in a conference in which he is announcing a new deal with Microsoft in 1997. In this scene, Bill Gates is compared to the "Big Brother" from the book "1984" from George Orwell. The following scenes in the movie are flashbacks to important moments in the process of creation of both companies. Steve Wozniak, played by Joey Slotnick, is the main narrator of the whole movie. The film concentrates more on Jobs, rather than Gates, who yet is not excluded.
The main characters are portrayed along the movie as intelligent and competitive, with the idea that they will change the world. This can be seen in one of the first scenes of the movie, set on the riots from 1971 in the University of Berkley, when Jobs says "Those guys think they're revolutionaries. They're not revolutionaries, we are.". Both characters try their best to impose over the other companies and to revolutionize the world with their personal computers. That's why we are shown throughout the movie that Jobs and Gates steal each others ideas in some occasions, allowing Bill to become superior and become one of the richest men in the world. Some downsides from both characters are shown in the movie, such as Jobs, who in a scene is seen criticizing angrily his programmers who fall asleep after having been working for 50 hours straight. On the other hand, Bill Gates is portrayed as somebody with no creativity nor conscience who succeeds through theft.The movie ends with Jobs reconciliation with his daughter Lisa, who he didn't recognize as his in a first instance. Moreover, Steve returns to Apple and is shown in the MacWorldExpo from 1997 with Bill Gates' appearance.
Opinion
I believe this movie has managed to show the long competence between the companies in an extraordinary way, by showing not only the moments in which they create personal computers but also by portraying Jobs' and Gates' personalities in a way nobody would expect. Additionally, the film shows us things that probably not many knew about their history, such as theft, Jobs lost of friends, persistance and their beginnings. However, I think that the movie could have been more interesting and funner if the scenes of the beginning had been a little more fast moving, and the director had emphasized less on Steve Jobs and had balanced the plot by showing more about Gates. Nonetheless, Pirates of Silicon Valley is very interesting and I recommend it only to those keen on the computer industry.If you would like more information, you can visit the following links: IMDB, Macworld, Wikipedia, Apple's First Macintosh Commercial.
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