Somewhere in the middle of the movie, Jordan Belfort’s drug addict character receives a sudden high from taking an overdose of drugs that have been preserved – they are called “Lemmon"
Quaaludes. He falls with a thud on the floor of the country club, he loses control over his limbs, and he is drooling like a baby. He struggles and gains some control over his disobeying body and then drags himself to the staircase. He then stares at the staircase wondering how to navigate it in order to get to his parked White Ferrari.
The audience burst into loud laughter when we watched him stare.
In an earlier scene, he gets invited to lunch by Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey in a brilliant performance). Hanna has an odd musical ritual that he encourages Belfort to pick up, among other stuff. The young Belfort looks around, is slightly embarrassed as he copies the ritual and then gets the audience to wonder what happens next.
'The Wolf of Wall Street' has plenty of such moments, if you are willing to look beyond the f-bombs being dropped (the highest ever in a non-documentary film), the sex references and the general debauchery. I am part of the audience that is marveling at Scorsese’s ability to poke fun at Wall Street in this manner, and there are several critics who found the movie over the top and unrealistic. My father is critical of the language mouthed by the characters. This
isn't a new reaction from him.
All of this was one man’s real life. One can debate on whether everybody in his life swore this way or whether they snorted cocaine as often or whether he has been punished properly. What gets established is that Belfort was a master salesman who sold penny stocks to unsuspecting clients, made a killing that would make the rich men of Wall Street envious and led a lifestyle that was mostly ugly.
The movie succeeded in making me laugh and feel really uncomfortable at the same time. The scene where a woman in Jordan’s office gets her head shaved by a colleague even as the office is watching and cheering (she makes money for a boob job this way) made me feel sad – it is a horrible sight to see someone lose their hair, the scenes where Jonah Hill’s obnoxious Donnie Azoff character masturbates on seeing Jordan’s future second wife or the one where he urinates into a dustbin are outright disgusting, the scenes when dwarfs are being flung on the dartboard with precision are less disgusting than the time when the “top management” is discussing the services they can provide.
Then there are scenes that are well-written. The times when Jordan’s character is thinking to himself while taking the audience into confidence – they include scenes with the Swiss Banker (played by Jean Dujardin) and his second wife’s British aunt – are delightful.
I read more than one interview based on the movie '
Wall Street' where Douglas has said that people wanted to emulate his character, and it shocked him. DiCaprio has played Belfort in a manner that his lifestyle isn’t to be emulated. To me, this is where Scorsese really scores as the Director. Here is
one interview with DiCaprio that I liked.
This really is one of Leonardo DiCaprio's best performances. When he gets shocked on knowing his debauchery on the aircraft to Switzerland, the way he reacts to his second wife’s aunt’s death, his scenes with his honest accountant father, when he is training a bunch of drug dealers to sell penny stock, when he is hosting couple of FBI agents on his fancy yacht, when he decides to give up the lifestyle for a bit, shooting infomercials – he makes Belfort come alive. His Golden Globe for best Actor is really well deserved.
At the National Board of Review Awards, DiCaprio and Scorsese won the Collaboration award. Here’s their
irreverent interview.
Belfort's life has taught me something. It is never too late to make changes in one's life, and lifestyle. The movie's style has taught me that jokes are mostly made at someone else's expense, and it matters how you take jokes directed at you. The scenes in the yacht are about this.
