The Wolf of Wall Street

Most of the bankers and businessman who were responsible for the financial collapse of the American economy in 2008 were never brought to justice. They got away with proverbial murder, showing no remorse or fear that they would be deposed from their heights of wealth. But who were these people and why were they so reckless and out of touch? Martin Scorsese's brilliant film, "The Wolf of Wall Street" gives us a sliver of the Wall Street world, ridiculous excess and all. While watching this film, it is easy to evaluate the crazy, over the top behavior of bankers and think that it is massive hyperbole. Did they really throw midgets (little people) at dart boards for fun? Did they really take quaaludes and fly helicopters or drive cars high out of their minds? Did they really fill their offices with prostitutes? Finally, did they really not think they would get caught or there would be a reckoning for their irresponsible business dealings? While I'm sure many bankers engaged in all kinds of bizarre activities with their wealth, the one aspect that they all had in common was the last point: they were teeming with greed and devoid of social responsibility.

The brilliance of this movie really begins with the fact that it unfolds as a typical Martin Scorsese mafia movie like "Goodfellas" or "Casino." Scorsese portrays Wall Street bankers as gangsters engaging in a legal form of mafia like dealing with more innocuous terminology: "insider trading," instead of friends on the inside, "buying equity" instead of gambling, and  "under duress" instead of threats of assault and battery. For me, this film chronicles an era of American business in which no one should be proud. Not since Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" has a filmmaker called out the criminal activity of the banking industry.

Although the film is a surprising three hours long, it doesn't feel like it at all. This comes partly from Scorsese's masterful fast pacing and the sheer enjoyment of watching Leonardo Dicaprio and Jonah Hill, both of whom nail their characters with skill. Dicaprio brings his signature energy and finesse while Hill comically disappears into his role as Donny, the eccentric businessman with huge bleached veneers who married his cousin because "he didn't want anyone else to fuck her." Greedy with hot family members and greedy with money go hand in hand, I suppose.

One of the key and most entertaining scenes in the movie is one in which Dicaprio takes a rare and potent quaalude called a Lemon, which causes him to go into a totally dysfunctional state. He crawls to his nearby Lamborghini and, by his own testimony, miraculously makes it home without injuring himself or his car. Later, we find out that the reality of the situation is that he crashed into several cars and put the lives of others as well as himself at risk. Again, this disconnect from subjective perception and reality mirrors the mindset of the pre-2008 bankers.

In the end, the most powerful part of the movie is its reinvention of a Scorsese gangster film. Dicaprio starts off as a middle class guy looking for success. By his own talent and boldness, he rises to great wealth and intense greed, which ultimately destroys him. When he goes into legitimate business, his past comes to haunt him and he is arrested and jailed. Finally, after he completes his jail time, he returns to the world that he helped to create and, like a virus, propagates the entry of others into the life------just like Henry Hill in "Goodfellas." "The Wolf of Wall Street" stands as a lone testament to the great financial injustice our time. It brings to life a world hidden from the 99%. In one seminal scene, Dicaprio turns to the camera and says, "who gives a shit how it all worked or whether it was illegal? The point is that we all made money." This film may be entertaining and hilarious, but it's also horrific in its truth.