I want you to deal with your problems by becoming Rich !!!

Rating: 9/10 (13 May 2015)

The Wolf of Wall Street is about the real life character Jordan Belfort who used to be a big Wall Street broker who engaged in illegal activities during the 80s and got himself arrested. The film is based on the book of the same name written by Belfort himself. Like Scarface, this film involves a character who comes from a humble background, a 'former member of the middle class'as he is called in the film, but who has huge ambitions and a relentlessly fierce vigour to become a big-shot and become rich. It is quite clear that under the circumstances that Jordan has grown up in, money is something that he views as a God and so when he arrives at Wall Street to work for his first brokerage firm, he feels a sense of fulfillment. Another film that I was really reminded of was 'Goodfellas'. A thematic connection between the two films can be made by one line from each film. In Goodfellas, Henry Hill says 'I always wanted to be a gangster' and in The Wolf of Wall Street, Belfort says 'I always wanted to be rich' and these two lines tell you everything that you need to know about these two characters.
However this film isn't really about Wall Street and the stock market. It is really about addiction and the perils of uncontrolled ambition. But like pretty much all of Scorsese's films, this is not at all preachy or melodramatic. Scorsese portrays the vulgar, obscene antics involving drugs and hookers and the unrestricted misogyny of Belfort and his partners in an unapologetic manner. Many people have complained about the fact that the style of storytelling is exaggerated, over-the-top, and extremely loud. But it is clear that this is intentionally so. The film about such obscenely undisciplined individuals has to be equally undisciplined and loud, because otherwise the whole point of effectively portraying the excessive nature of their actions gets lost. However Scorsese still uses some scenes to make us not empathise, but understand why these people feel the need to act like this.
When Belfort has the conversation with Mark Hanna, a senior partner of the firm that he starts to work for after arriving at Wall Street played by Matthew McConaughey, it is clear that he wasn't as hollow as he became later, but McConaughey's character acts like the character of Mephistopheles and gives him all the advice and tips which Belfort absorbs and ends up selling his soul to the devil. We also see Belfort himself then taking up the role of Mephistopheles and alluring others into this mad world of stock broking.
Although the film uses the concept of excess in a lot of ways, but Scorsese still manages to use some tender scenes to somehow humanise this character of Belfort who seems so inhuman, like the scene where Belfort shifts his focus to stealing from the rich instead of the poor because that was what his wife asked him to do, or the scene where we get to know why he hired an employee called Kimmie. Belfort was once a human, but he was seduced into this whole other world where he lost his humanity and became a greedy wolf who wanted nothing but money, drugs and sex.
Scorsese over the years has received a lot of stick from a section of audiences and critics for using very objectionable, unlikeable people as his protagonists. Although he enjoys exploring the worlds of these people and almost makes it fun to watch them live their lives doing questionable things, but he never shows people escaping the consequences of their actions. His films have a moral fibre attached to them that can be seen by going beneath the violence on the surface. I thought Belfort's fate was very similar to the fate of Jake LaMotta in 'Raging Bull'. Belfort's perseverance and ambition makes him successful and very rich, but his inability to control this ambition and his inability to control his multiple addictions leads to him losing all that he had and everything falls apart. Scorsese also makes a damning indictment of the US justice system by showing how you have a chance to get away with anything as long as your pockets are full.
The Wolf of Wall Street looks like a typically characteristic Martin Scorsese film. His unique style is all over the film- the tracking shots, the fast movement of the camera and the voice-over by DiCaprio. The film also has the characteristic fast editing by the regular Scorsese collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker. The film is 3 hours long, but it feels much shorter due to the energy of the script. But having said that, I don't think the script is perfect like Goodfellas. There a few scenes here and there which could have been better written and some scenes could have been shorter.
Leonardo DiCaprio has never been funnier. He uses a lot of physical comedy in this role when he needs to, but also efficiently portrays the more sombre emotions. The speeches that he gives in the office meetings are absolutely mesmerising. He uses the microphone in those scenes like a rockstar and exudes limitless energy and charisma. Jonah Hill brilliantly plays an odd but fascinating character who becomes a partner in crime for Belfort. Margot Robbie also deserves praise for her performance.
The Wolf of Wall Street is the kind of film that we have seen Martin Scorsese make before. He has explored these themes of greed and indiscipline and how it can destroy someone, but I'd much rather watch Scorsese repeating himself than another one of those pointless superhero films or those clichéd Hollywood romantic comedies.