With a record of 522 “f-bombs” in his 180 minute film, Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” was both a remarkably crude, yet incredibly interesting, story. It is simultaneously a harsh, arousing, nauseating and enlightening film based off the story of real-life multimillionaire Jordan Belfort.
Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a seemingly innocent stock broker trying to make his way into the stock market. However, after finding out how talented he was with convincing people to invest money, Belfort gets some help from a few of his pals and quickly turns into a powerhungry corporation owner.
With hard work, exaggeration and “persuasive customer training,” they hit it big – and with a taste of wealth, their desires for overindulgence grow exponentially.
With endless partying and corruption at every turn, Scorsese’s film on white-collar crime is a perfect blend of dishonesty and pleasure. The men Belfort attracts to work with him are mostly young, arrogant men trying to find a way to get rich quick. Belfort throws any possible integrity these men could have out the window and gracefully shows them the benefits of unfairly – and illegally – receiving hefty sums of money quickly. Each fraud is celebrated with a wild party consisting of expensive catering, prostitutes and more drugs than the entire state of New York would ever use.
The plot is essentially scams, throwing parties, getting high – and repeat. DiCaprio performed his pretentious character, Belfort, with poise, keeping an even and matter of fact tone throughout the whole movie. His cynical, almost amusing, attitude gave the audience an inside look on the pure indifference Belfort felt while scamming millions of investors out of money.
His right hand man, Donnie Azoff – played by Jonah Hill – seemed even more apathetic. Starting out as a salesman, he quickly morphed into a man obsessed with wealth and power. Almost never sober, Azoff dispensed money carelessly, becoming a man who thought money could fix anything.
Everything about “The Wolf of Wall Street” is excessive. Excessive amounts of money, excessive amounts of girls, excessive amounts of drugs and above all, excessive abuse of power. The houses were grandiose and the people would throw around money for fun.
There seemed to be no stopping these men. “The Wolf of Wall Street” provides fascinating insight of the madness and of the rich, and although the audience is repulsed, they cannot help but be entertained by the appalling, grotesque and even exquisite lifestyle that some Americans have led.
