We don’t just look at The Wolf Of Wall Street from the point of view of what it says about the people that it hones in on, but also in terms of what it says about its director, Martin Scorsese, and leading actor, Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), who both went to great lengths to work on the film. It feels like a parallel life confessional as much as it is a parable on the vices of ill-gotten success and excess, like the antithesis of Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma’s Scarface.
Where the 1983 crime drama asks what if you went to the other side of the tracks to secure wealth and power only to answer is savagely with its “crime doesn’t pay” allegory intent, The Wolf Of Wall Street asks a similar set of questions, but holds no such clear cut response. A part of this is the obvious allure of the high life and the empathy Scorsese and DiCaprio appear to have for the real life wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, who’s personal memoir the film is based on.
You can easily take this as a bad thing as it feels at least partially to glorify the drugs, sex and illegal wealth acquisition at the centre of the story, but more importantly it’s incredibly honest in its account. It’s an analysis of some of the more questionable element of human nature and the frameworks that are needed to allow them to get out of hand if left unchecked. The reality is that if there’s an opportunity to be exploited then someone probably will if procedures aren’t effectively put in place to prevent them, and that’s definitely the case here, but it isn’t accompanied with any hard and fast condemnation. Instead, it’s just laid out for you to take in; the good, the bad, the questionable, the debatable and the enviable.
We’re not saying that DiCaprio and Scorsese, both of whom are credited among the producers of the film, wish they could throw caution to the wind and take to a similar lifestyle as the wild stock market broker, but there’s a fundamental understanding of the enticements that inspired it. Who hasn’t, at least once in their life, wished that they could be rich beyond their wildest dreams or have a fun filled, hedonistic lifestyle?
While the don of the director’s chair draws you in with bright lights and a clever story, he’s still made his fortune on his ability to spin up his investors and secure almost universal buy in to his ideas, and you can make similar parallels with the work of Leonardo DiCaprio. When you look at it from this point of view it’s clear to see why there would be so much empathy for their anti-hero that he makes a cameo appearance in the film about his rise and fall.
It’s a savage, urbane and intelligent deconstruction of the human condition, or at lease a powerful part of it. It may not be the Ten Commandments, but it is a razor sharp and funny indictment of humanity, but if you were expecting a scything, judgmental hand at the tiller of the big white yacht that is The Wolf Of Wall Street you’ll be sorely disappointed with the layered depth that is actually delivered.
The cast is phenomenal throughout with mostly stand-out performances from DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Maggie Margo (Suicide Squad) and Kyle Chandler (Super 8). Every now and again, Leonardo DiCaprio goes just a little outside of his comfort zone and looks a bit too try hard, but for the most part he’s completely believable as Jordan Belfort. Even the smaller part players like Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar), Jon Bernthal (Daredevil: Series 2), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Rob Reiner and Joanna Lumley add a whole lot to making this such an unconventionally brilliant picture.
Essentially, it’s a must watch film that will challenge as much as it entertains. Sadly, the DVD doesn’t come with anything in the way of special features, so you might be better off plumping for the Blu-ray version, which includes a making-of documentary, an extra feature on the production, and a The Wolf of Wall Street round table, which features Scorsese, writer Terence Winter, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill discussing the film.
The Wolf Of Wall Street DVD review: 4.2/5
