I wanted to see this movie (I mean, Scorcese, right?) but only because I had some vague misunderstanding that of course it would show the comeuppance of the Wall Street vultures! Now that I know what it’s really about, I won’t spend the money:
For three hours, Belfort, portrayed with manic intensity by Leonardo DiCaprio, lies, humps and snorts his way through a binge of fraud and frolic that would make Gordon Gekko, and possibly a few Roman emperors, blush. Belfort starts out hustling penny stocks, selling “garbage to garbage men,” but quickly works his way up from screwing over poor people to ripping off wealthy investors, using the proceeds to hire truckloads of hookers and dwarves used for target practice at office parties (seriously!).
Not everyone was amused. In an open letter to Scorsese and DiCaprio, Christina McDowell, the daughter of one of Belfort’s partners in crime, describes the emotional pain and financial ruin she suffered as a teen when the dad she believed in turned out to be a crook. She doesn’t mince words about the treatment of the Belfort saga in the film:
“So here’s the deal. You people are dangerous. Your film is a reckless attempt at continuing to pretend that these sorts of schemes are entertaining, even as the country is reeling from yet another round of Wall Street scandals. We want to get lost in what? These phony financiers’ fun sexcapades and coke binges? Come on, we know the truth. This kind of behavior brought America to its knees. And yet you’re glorifying it—you who call yourselves liberals.”
She’s got a point. Why does Hollywood celebrate financial fraudsters when just about the entire country has been victimized by them?
Because edgy.
How is giving a factual yet entertaining account of what went on during this period “glorifying” anything? What does being a “liberal” have to do with either the director or the actors? Surely McDowell would have preferred that this film not have been made. None of us likes to relive a sordid and sorrowful time. But it’s important to introduce to a larger audience events that the 1% media never properly covered. That’s what this film attempts to do. The interpretation of its content is left up to each individual viewer. Go see it, you’ll enjoy it.
I thought it was the most commie movie I’d seen in years!