Crime pays on Wall Street

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2014)

There's a reason Martin Scorsese made The Wolf of Wall Street so similar to his Goodfellas. In both a young man is seduced by the allure of ill-gotten wealth and the power, sex and glamour it provides. In both the man tells his story in candid voice-over. Both build to a manic drug-propelled climax. Both heroes turn rat to save themselves and enjoy a second life, though Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) fares better than Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) did. As the heroes are propelled by cocaine the narrative is driven by a pulsing rock score, though here Scorsese leans more on lesser known tunes and covers. Both films expose the amoral conventions and dishonesty of a tight subculture. And that's the point. Scorsese implies the American stock brokerage and banking world are now what the Mafia was in the 1990s. It's hard to disagree.
When Belfort avows "There's no nobility in poverty" he doesn't acknowledge the sordidness of the alternative he chose. "Stratton Oakmont is America," Belfort trumpets, which flatters neither. The opening commercial for his crooked penny stock brokerage revives the lion from the old Dreyfus commercial, but in this jungle leonine Leo is a base wolf not a regal lion.
The film manages to pull a lot of comedy out of its bitter view of American commerce. The more addled Belfort and partner Donnie get, from booze, coke and power, the funnier their stupidity gets. That such fumble bunnies can fare so well only emphasizes the weakness of the government's protection of its innocent, exploited investors. The honcho who at 26 made almost a million a week gets off with a 22-month sentence and a fine. For more see www.yacowar.blogspot.com.