"Anyone who needs “The Wolf of Wall Street” to explain that the stock-market fraud and personal irresponsibility it depicts are morally wrong is dead from the neck up; but anyone who can’t take vast pleasure in its depiction of delinquent behavior is dead from the neck down."
Richard Brody, in The New Yorker
A few days ago, I wrote about my starting an Oscar 2014 marathon and the deception felt after watching American Hustle. The marathon began in full force with the film I'm writing about today: The Wolf of Wall Street (which, in my opinion, influenced my opinion about American Hustle).
The Wolf revolves around the life of Jordan Belfort. Starting from the beginning of his career on Wall Street, which ended with the shut down of the company he was working for, following the crash of 1987 (Black Monday), to the creation of his own company, making profit due to dupes who bought his fraudulent inflated stocks.
Narrated as a sort of memoirs of this stock broker, the film shows the rollercoaster of Belfort's life was during the 80's and 90's, filled with drugs, sports cars and prostitutes.
What I found amazing was how I felt so emerged into the story. Conducted in the classic voice-over nostalgia style, often breaking the fourth wall rule (“No, no, no. My Ferrari was white—like Don Johnson’s in Miami Vice—not red.”), the audience is completely taken along for the ride. With quick, but fitting, transitions throughout the story, this is probably the fastest three hour movie I have ever watched.
A crazily energised black comedy, with some hilarious lines of dialogue and exhilarating scenes that can last for twenty minutes, The Wolf of Wall Street is without a doubt a great adventure for the viewer, even though it can be, at times, slightly shallow, filthy and outrageous.
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