The Wolf of Wall Street directed by Martin Scorsese
Um, … wow! I wasn't
really, expecting a breakdown of the world of “too big to fail” or
tales of financial-political collusion (like the man sitting behind
me seemed to be) or even a sort of Goodfellas of Finance, but I
wasn't prepared at all for this three-hour onslaught of sex, drugs and
wretched excess that passes a bit into overkill. The acting is
particularly good throughout, but there is a certain lack of the
sizzle that Scorsese usually brings. But, as he often does, he takes
you on a character's rise and fall through a world of which you may or may not
(but secretly wish to) be a part (at least for the good parts).
The debate out there
seems to be if the depiction of this depravity equals endorsement.
Scorsese does not moralize here and I don't miss it. Aside from brief
moments seen from the point of view of the Wolf's first wife and his
FBI nemesis, the destruction the Wolf reaps upon his clients, his
relationships and himself are presented at face value, obvious to the
audience, if not to himself. While the film shows the Wolf as
unapologetic, it doesn't suggest he should be. The audience is
trusted to react to what they are being shown without being told how
to feel. (my point is much better made by the great Sara Benincasa here.)
Perhaps this level of depravity needs to be depicted because even
now, after all the crimes and shenanigans that have been brought to
light over the past five years, the financial industry is presumed to
be (and wants us to presume them to be) made up of boring men in
suits leading staid upright respectable lives.
(an aside – did Family
Matters play any other role in society other than to measure if the
drugs were working? (Growing Pains wasn't on apparently))
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