Hello dear reader, I am pleased to announce that after the sombre and thought provoking subject matter of the last blog for 12 Years a Slave normal service has well and truly been resumed. I would like to promise you that without too much fear of contradiction the following will contain mischief, mirth and merriment, wine women and song (delete where appropriate.)
However before I start to take you through the three hour debauchery ride that is The Wolf of Wall Street I do feel I need to start with a confession. Martin Scorsese films tend to completely unfloat my boat. They normally do nothing for me. Apart from, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver I've never found his films that enjoyable. Yes that's right, I don't like Goodfellas, Casino or Gangs of New York. Now I'm completely aware that I'm probably in the minority here but that's ok, I’m quirky!
I offer the following as evidence of my quirkiness. I seem to be the only person on the planet that thinks Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back isn’t the greatest film from the series. I genuinely don't get why people bang on about it being the best. Let me some up in a nutshell is how I'd describe Empire.
"Snow, battle, exposition, exposition, exposition, exposition, hi dad, end credits."
It's a boring film, FACT.
But I'm getting distracted by the Dark Side here. I'll put Mr Lucas back in his box and deal with him another time and another blog. However I do have a feeling that it may take more than one to do him (and his extravagant plan to take over the world through the medium of merchandising) justice.
I should get back to why I even wanted to watch The Wolf of Wall Street in the first place. In its simplest form the reason was two words and those two words are Mathew McConaughey. From the very first teaser trailer that was released for TWOWS in the early 2013 I was hooked. It was a scene between him and Leonardo Dicaprio. In it McConaughy's Mark Hanna mentors Decaprio's Jordan Belfort on the do's and don’ts of the stock market and Wall Street. Hanna's very own personal set of golden rules to reach the top and not look down at who you're stepping on while you do it. McConaughy is quite simply brilliant in it. His chest beating and humming mantra is worth the price of admission on its own. Unfortunately he's only on for about the first twenty minutes but he does set the tone for the rest film and if it wasn't for the presence of Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, Belfort’s right hand man, I'm sure Mathew would currently be in contention for a best supporting actor.
The film itself tells the tale of the aforementioned Jordan Belfort, who is basically a real life Gordon Gekko. Belfort takes Gekko’s “greed is good, greed works” philosophy and turns it up to eleven. He becomes obsessed with power and the privileges that come with it.
In the same way that most people see computers and phones as necessary tools to do their jobs, Belfort sees drugs as giving him his competitive edge over his rivals. They become essential to his everyday life too. Uppers, downers, coke, pills & potions, there's nothing he won't do or take to help perpetuate the fantasy land he feels safe in and calls home. His attitude to money also beggars belief at times. He thinks he can buy anything. Love, women and even the FBI are all at some point found on his expansive shopping list.
This is the ultimate story of excess. A rise and fall fable of such astonishment that you have to keep telling yourself that this actually happened. Such is the mental state of Belfort that you start to think that this is a fictional character that couldn't possibly exist in the real world but exist he does, whilst throwing up his middle fingers to those who dare to tell him no.
There's a scene about halfway through the film set in their company boardroom, where there's a completely serious discussion about "dwarf throwing etiquette." It's not played for laughs in any way. It's held to establish what is regarded as acceptable behaviour and how to treat dwarfs when they're wearing Velcro suits and be propelling towards a large round dartboard target by drunken traders. Belfort believes he's untouchable. He surrounds himself with people he knows he can trust and that would never roll over on him.
The fall of the Belfort Empire comes when his company Stratford-Oakmont starts drawing attention from other Wall Street companies. Their reputation starts to precede them. Stories of lavish office parties, strippers even marching bands parading through the offices starts to raise their profile from a little fish to a predatory shark. This then leads to Belfort being interviewed and featured on the front cover of Forbes Magazine with the now infamous moniker "The Wolf of Wall Street."
His stellar rise from running a twenty man operation to a company that employs over two hundred and fifty capitalist brings him to the attention of the FBI. Such is Belfort’s ego that during his initial meeting held on board his yacht with the investigating officer he offers to bribe him. When this offer is turned down by FBI Agent Patrick Denham, played by Kyle Chandler Belfort takes out a roll of bills and throws “fun vouchers” at him as he leaves. With the FBI watching everything Belfort does he has to come up with more elaborate ways to keep his money hidden. Swiss bank accounts are used and millions in cash, usually strapped to the courier’s body, are smuggled through customs from America. This system of moving money is overseen by Belfort’s Aunt Emma, played faultlessly by Joanna Lumley.
With the net closing in on him and his drug addiction escalating to new height’s it’s only a matter of time before he implodes and gets caught. Forced to wear a wire as part of the deal he cuts to keep his jail time to a minimum he turns snitch on his colleagues and incriminate them.
This is an astonishing film at times. It doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to what it’s willing to show you and if you don’t like swearing then this may not be the film for you. The real Jordan Belfort makes a small cameo at the end of the film and you get the impression that he’s still really quite proud of what he did and how he did it. With the likes of Gravity and 12 Years a Slave to contend with it’s very unlikely that TWOWS will win best film or best director at the upcoming Oscars but it’s definitely worth your attention and I would happily place it in the top five films I’ve seen in the last twelve months.
Twitter Review:
The best cast and chemicals assembled this side of a Hunter S Thompson Novel. Powerful and thought provoking.
#SellMeThisPen
Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/?ref_=nv_sr_3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAhIg5Dy3uA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pabEtIERlic
